Chaos and Time
by Divinion
Summary: COMPLETE: When Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray and Happy arrive to town for an S-Class mission, the last thing they expect is the town to be holding a Wizarding Tournament! With only one of them able to compete while the others continue their mission, who will win and what secrets does this town hold?
1. Chapter 1

Ep 1

Natsu's eyes turned wide, staring at the piece of paper waving gently between two pins against a noticeboard. Thick black writing twisted ornately in words which sent the Dragon Slayer weak with anticipation. "A-a-a WIZARD TOURNAMENT?!" he shouted, more than a little too excited.

Erza's sharp eyes caught onto his reaction, and quickly folded into a frown. "Natsu we are on a mission. We don't have time for that."

Even as she spoke she could tell that she was talking to thin air, as Natsu had already pulled the flyer from the board and was holding it with shaking hands, a manic grin across his face. "I can finally prove that I'm the strongest and fight my way to the top!" he told himself.

With a roll of his eyes, Gray had obvious disagreements. "You wouldn't make it past the first round," he muttered, arms folded.

"Oh yeah well I'd get further than you!" Natsu yelled, his frown deep and already making fists as the body temperature around him blazed, steaming against Gray's cool air.

"Neither of you are fighting!" Gray and Natsu were the vision of fear at Ezra's strict retort, falling to their knees obediently in front of her. She kept her frown as she continued to lecture them both. "Don't forget that this is an S-class mission, do not make me regret taking you along with me!" she snapped, holding up her own flyer detailing the S-Class mission.

"Yes Ms Ezra!" they both replied, as Erza grabbed each one of them by their collar and began to drag them away. Natsu of course was particularly disappointed. The only thing that could possibly rival the excitement of being on an S-Class mission was a contest of strength, and now he was faced with both so close to him. He let out something a cross between a sigh and a wail, looking back at the flyer. "But the reward was 5 million jewel…"

Lucy's ears were perked. 5 million jewel…. That was seventy month's rent! That had stopped her in her tracks. Although the S-Class mission would pay far more than most of the missions they had been on lately, between all four of them (five if you included Happy), the reward was no-where near in comparison, even with an equal split. With an awkward laugh she approached the question cautiously. "Do we _all_ need to go on the mission?"

Erza stopped her march, looking back at herself slowly. Even Happy looked surprised, looking at her quizzically. "What do you mean, Lucy?"

"Well…" Lucy kicked the dirt awkwardly, hoping that her cute and girlish charms might help her win over the group – and the money. "If we know who the strongest of us is then they're the only one that really needs to stay and win! And we can manage this mission while they're gone!"

Natsu blinked. "I didn't think you'd be interested in this sort of thing."

Lucy almost jumped a mile. "I'm not going to be the strongest!" she yelped. "One of you will have to fight while we're getting the other money-uh, mission!"

Erza frowned, disliking both the money-hungry matter and the fact that she had already said no and it was being overturned. "This is an S-Class mission, that means you can't accept it without an S-class wizard." A small smile appeared on her face. "So it would be between Natsu and Gray" she told them, quietly agreeing.

Natsu jumped to his feet quicker than they could have thought possible. "Ha! Then it's no contest at all! I'm obviously stronger! And I'm going to win the whole contest!"

"In your dreams!" Gray grumbled through gritted teeth. "I'm stronger than you and you know it!"

The two disappeared into threats and a wisp of smoke made mostly of the heat and ice cold air twisting against each other, leaving the two girls and Happy watching them in dismay, instantly regretting their decision to put the two against each other. "I'm not so sure this was such a good idea anymore…" Lucy groaned.

"Aye…." Agreed Happy, as they descended into more chaos.

"Is this any way to decide? You can do better than that. We've had a long journey and the contest doesn't start until tomorrow. Come back here in two hours and we will settle this. Winner gets to fight – on behalf of Fairy Tale!"

Erza's words ran through Natsu's mind as he walked the town, his hands behind his head and lost in thought. He had told himself that he had been ready to fight, but the grumbling in his stomach told himself otherwise. A grin came to his face at the thought of it, already looking around for some tasty fire to consume. If he could take in as much fire as possible in the next two hours there would be no way that Gray would be able to compete, he realised as he already felt victorious, imagining Gray lying helpless with him standing above him with crowds adoring him. But first he had to find some fire.

Gray only watched Natsu running around, quietly confident himself. Unlike Natsu who was spurting fire and hot air everywhere he went in his mission, Gray was conserving his magical energy and physical strength. He knew it would take everything inside of him to take on his rival, and he had already used so many tricks against him it was hard to think of any new ones that may work. "Erza, Lucy, are you sure you'll be alright without me or Natsu?"

Erza gave a short sharp nod, "We will. If we're lucky we may have more time than we expected. We still have a lot of information to gather," she said, once again looking at her flyer.

Gray nodded, "I'll start seeing if anyone has seen anything about this Lacrima," he said as he turned to leave.

"Doesn't it seem strange to you?" He stopped in his tracks at Erza's voice. "This town doesn't have a guild for miles around and yet it has a wizarding tournament. At the same time that we have been sent to retrieve this new Lacrima." Her words seemed to hang in the air.


	2. Chapter 2

Ep 2

Nearly two hours later and the two champions appeared, standing some distance from each other and squaring off. There was already whispers appearing of the tournament starting early, passers-by lingering by them but with enough distance to show they had seen how ugly wizard fights can go. They seemed excited more than nervous, however, and that brought a smile to Natsu's face. "You see all of these people are here to watch me beat you, Gray."

Gray smiled back, feeling a new confidence run through him. "We'll see about that."

"Right!" Erza shouted out, loud enough for the growing crowd to now hear her. "Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster. The winner will be entered into wizarding tournament. Are you ready?"

"Go Natsu!" Happy cried out, hovering above Lucy's head.

Natsu gave a thumbs up, a grin pointed in Happy's direction. "Ready!"

Gray nodded, concentrating hard already as he reminded himself of each combination of attacks to expect. "Ready."

"FIGHT!" Erza shouted, taking a step back and letting the shouts of the crowd take over.

The two left no time in insulting or gloating any more, finally eager to fight each other with the strength they had both held back. It was just like when they were children, meeting punch for punch, each action causing an equal reaction back to them. Gray's ice lance was taken back by Natsu's dragon fire roar, a move which had surprised him at first but only went to prove that Natsu was not willing to wait until longer. Natsu's Fire Dragon Iron Fist was quickly stopped in its tracks by Gray's Ice Shield, which splintered into a thousand places.

"Be careful, my dear Gray!"

The voice caused Gray to suddenly become distracted, looking out into the crowds for a moment as Natsu landed his first true strike, a flaming hand throwing him into the solid ground.

Lucy looked beside her, white with shock as she saw Juvia standing with her hands clasped together, eyes streaming with rivers of tears. "I'm sorry my dear Gray! You can beat him!" she shouted out.

Natsu grinned, feeling proud of himself as he looked down at the smoke he had left with his attack and waiting for his opponent to come back to his feet. "You can do it Natsu!" came a small meek voice from the crowds which carried surprisingly clearly to his ears. Confused he looked up, missing both who the voice came from and the ice lance knocking his head back.

Wendy squealed, holding her hands close to her mouth as she realised that she too had distracted the fighters. Lucy looked too at her, her beautiful long blue hair standing out among the crowd, but realising that the crowd was filling with people that they recognised.

"My money's on Natsu," Elfman muttered aloud, folding his arms as he looked up at the fight intently.

"I wouldn't be too sure," his elder sister pointed out, looking at him with a wide smile to show she didn't mean to at all be condescending. "Every time Natsu and Gray have fought there has never been able to be a clear winner. Natsu is strong but he is also reckless. Since the two of them have gotten stronger who can tell who will win?"

Erza's mouth could not shut, staring at her friends all gathered around her unexpectedly, the sudden change making her grasp her sword all the more tightly. "What are you all doing here?" she asked in disbelief.

"Just after you left word of the tournament spread throughout the guild," Mirajane told her simply. "Everyone was so excited that they rushed here as soon as they could. We thought that's why you were already here."

Erza's eyes narrowed in thought. The S-Class mission she had taken had been on the board for several weeks, and the moment that they had accepted it a wizarding tournament appeared in the exact same town within hours? She was concerned, but without proof she knew that she could no nothing now. Looking up at the fight above her she realised now it was probably good that she had one of her team in the tournament to see what was happening.

"You're getting slow!" Natsu laughed as he landed another hit against him, sending him skidding backwards. "Don't tell me you're tired already!" he taunted him, though he could feel himself drawing quicker breaths he was not yet slowed by this. He told himself that it was the particularly tasty fire that had been found, but in truth that had been little more than a torch and he had spent most of the energy gained from that morsel running away from some very angry children who had been trying to light a bonfire.

Gray grinned, shouting back "You wish!" But the truth was that had been another attack that he should have been able to dodge out of the way easily. Natsu was relentless, running up to him with a flaming kick and Gray had put up his shield moments too late, smiling however as it realised that it had trapped Natsu's leg in his maker magic. Jumping forwards he tried to attack forwards, his world spinning quickly as Natsu's fist one again sent him flying.

"Gray is moving too slowly…" Juvia mumbled, her lip trembling.

"How do you mean?" Lucy asked her.

Juvia frowned, studying the two men fight and her eyes darting around keeping up. "His movements don't add up. He's going in for attacks quickly but slowing down after the first moment."

Happy looked away, smug in his answer "Natsu has just worn him down."

"HE IS NOT WORN DOWN!" Juvia shouted, a devilish threat that made Happy shrink and hide behind an equally terrified Lucy. "Look, he's not breathing heavily, he's not blushing or pale," she said, her words carrying an almost musical tone as a blush crossed her own face.

Lucy stepped back, not certain she wanted to be close to the madness and the rivers of tears that would no doubt quickly follow Juvia. But as she stepped back she glanced back up to the fight, with a gasp realising that the rain woman was right. "Did you just see that-?" she gasped, looking around herself to see if anyone else had seen Gray's sudden slow down mid-flight. Everyone else was cheering and laughing, trying to coax their favourite into a victory and getting blinded by the smoke, ice and flames. The only face she could see without the grins and laughter was Erza, staring intently at the fight and their patterns. _Had she seen it too?_ Lucy wondered.

Gray was thrown into the floor and Natsu once again found his feet, staring into the flames that he had created and waiting for an ice hammer or lance to spring from his opponent. He stood carefully, grinning to himself as he waited. Nothing came. Surprised, he stepped forwards, seeing that Gray was lying on the floor, trying to pull himself to his feet. "I'm not falling for that again," Natsu said, putting himself back into a defensive stance ready to strike in case Gray decided to strike while pretending to be down. He watched intently, and the crowds held their breaths, watching as whispering began to take a hold. Had Natsu really beaten Gray? Had their equality finally reached an end? Natsu didn't believe it, pulling his hands together for another flaming attack.

"The winner is Natsu!" Erza's voice rang out clearly and quickly, and the rest was lost in cheering.

Natsu blinked. He had won? He thought of the battle, looking at his hands and realising he had barely exhausted himself. It was rare to finish a battle this quickly with anyone, especially not someone who had been his rival for so long, the time had seemed to pass by incredibly quickly. "I… won?" he questioned himself, only half seeing a few run over to Gray, pulling him back to his feet with difficulty.

"I WON!" he shouted at the top of his voice, a huge grin across his face as he jumped up, forgetting all questions of how he had achieved this as Happy pulled him up into the sky to be watched by all of his friends and admirers.


	3. Chapter 3

Ep 3

The night had been one filled with joy and crushing disappointments. Natsu had spent his evening with drinks in hand, demanding a match against anyone who questioned his superiority or just simply looked like they would be an interesting battle. Time and time again he was reminded to conserve his strength for the tournament the next day, with which he would usually boast about his win and laughing at Gray's expense. It wasn't as much fun as he had hoped, however, as Gray quickly made his disappearance to concentrate on the mission that he was now tied to.

Despite all her concerns, seeing the joy of her friends Erza found herself staying in the party as free drinks and foods were passed around by helpful and happy townspeople. She contented herself with spending some time talking to them, asking about a Lacrima of the description the flyer had given them and trying to hear if there was anything else heard by the rest of her comrades. If nothing else she had heard that there were several more of them joining in the tournament, and the manner of the contest. Or rather, the lack of knowledge surrounding it. Every townsperson hid away from her, increasingly quickly as she began to grow annoyed at the way they avoided questioning. She growled out loud, hoping that Gray would have more luck and wishing that Lucy could put her feminine charm into more than just getting cheap drinks.

Gray looked around himself, footsteps padding softly against the night air. He glanced around himself, realising that while he had come to question locals there didn't seem to be a single one in sight. He even took it upon himself to knock on a few doors, but as he did so the lights inside instantly blew away. "Hey!" he called out, banging again. "I just want to ask some questions!"

He turned, suddenly certain he had seen something in the darkness. He stared out into nothingness, holding even his breath to try as he concentrated. He could feel the undeniable magical energy coming from the alleyways and called out "Who's there?"

With meek small steps, the rain woman stepped into the street, a blush across her cheeks. She hadn't meant to startle Gray, she hadn't even been convinced that she had wanted to be seen, but now that she was caught in his beautiful dark eyes she didn't want to ever escape.

He tutted, relaxing and realising there was no more enemies for now. "Juvia, what are you doing here?" he challenged her.

Her eyes grew wider as he turned away from her, longing to be back within her gaze. He was already shirtless, which she _certainly_ wasn't going to remind him of now, even as it made her heart beat faster. "Juvia is worried. You shouldn't be walking after your battle, my dear Gray…" she told him, daring a step forwards as her eyes raced across his bruised torso.

He turned further away from her, back to continue his mission. He hadn't needed the reminder of what had happened earlier. He felt weak, defeated, even if he knew that he should have at least been feeling some small victory. "I'm fine, Juvia. Go back to the others," he muttered.

She trembled, her skin rippling gently as she moved. "My dear Gray…"

"Why do you have to call me that?!" He snapped at her, staring back at her with a deadly dark look.

She jumped, freezing solid as if he had cast a completely new kind of ice magic upon her. She could feel her heart pounding even heavier now, a confession of undying love on her lips and the gleam in his eye warning her those words could be costly. He had always seemed so nice to her, one of the reasons she had fallen so quickly for him, as he saved her from an even more deadly fall. His gaze was as cold as his magic towards her now. "Juvia…. Juvia is…." She shook, feeling like her body would disappear into water around her. "Juvia is in love!"

Gray paused, and gritted his teeth. He turned away, cursing himself for even asking. Of course Juvia loved him, it was the worst kept secret in the entire guild. He had only himself to blame for not denying her immediately, turning away unable to even look at her. "Don't call me that again."

Juvia gasped and stepped backwards, unable to tell if Gray had sent an ice lance straight through to her heart of if she had just been crushed. Everything in that moment had simply stopped, her eyes wide and already filling with tears. "Why won't you love?!" she cried out after him, even as he refused to look at her. "Why won't you love Juvia?! We are made for each other, ice and water! You are the ying to my yang, you complete Juvia! Why don't you love me?!" she cried out, wiping back tears as he hands merged with her tears.

He took a step away from her and a heat suddenly rose from inside, an anger that filled the air with uncomfortable humidity. "It's that girl, isn't it?!" she yelled, her eyes wide and wild. "Lucy has stolen your heart away from Juvia!"

He stopped, turning back at her and shouting out "It isn't Lucy OK?!"

Her eyes grew wide. The idea that there was someone else made her heart pound uncomfortably in her chest, and she felt as if she was dying all over again. Someone had succeeded in the one thing that she had strived for, someone had taken away her dear Gray's heart. Her mind raced over all of the beautiful women that he had beside him, as they flashed before her eyes she realised that she had never really had much of a chance. Erza, Cana, Lucy, Levvy, Mira…. And that was just the first ones that came to her mind. She fell to her knees, her tears falling over her body as she gripped the earth. "Juvia doesn't want to hear it…" she choked.

She heard nothing except her own tears, and jumped as when she looked up Gray was standing right in front of her, his hand out towards her. He had a grim look on his face, but the kindness in his eyes that she had always loved. Confused she stared up at him with watery eyes. "Let me take you back to the others," he told her, his voice letting little suggestion that she could refuse. "You shouldn't be out here alone."

Before she was even aware of what was happening she was back on her feet, Gray's body close to hers as he held her steady and helped her through those first few painful steps. Her face flushed as she looked at him, confused in all ways and finding it impossible to hate someone so thoughtful. "Won't people say something if we come back together…?" she whispered.

"Let them talk."


	4. Chapter 4

Ep 4

The next morning was filled with more promise of an eventful day ahead. As they sat and ate a mammoth breakfast the heroes discussed how to go through the next few days. "We need you to keep an eye from inside the tournament, Natsu," Erza told him sharply.

"Hm?" Natsu pulled up his head, his mouth still filled with food.

"It seems too much of a coincidence that the tournament would happen exactly when we are in town for this mission," she told them all with a frown.

Natsu swallowed his last bite loudly. "C'mon, Erza. We always have missions and there are bound to be some tournaments around. Just try to enjoy it." A terrifying grin crossed his face. "And nothing is going to come in my way of winning the tournament!"

Erza gave a deep sigh, wanting to believe her friend but knowing that his excitement clouded his judgement. "You may be right, Natsu," she admitted, and gave a small smile. "Have fun and give a good name for the guild, yes?"

Natsu nodded, suddenly serious in his determination. "Don't worry, Erza. I'll win for Fairy Tale." With that he stood, pushing the chair in behind himself as he said "I won't let you down! _And_ if there's anything on the lacrima in the tournament then I'll find that too! There's gonna be a ton of magic users there, one of them will have heard of it."

"Be careful Natsu…" Lucy whispered under her breath, realising then that she would be leaving Natsu without a team to protect him and cheer him along. She couldn't remember the last mission she had taken without Natsu beside her and it was a strange feeling, to watch him walk out of the door and know that the danger was only just beginning. She didn't know who to be more afraid for…

"I'm impressed Gray," Ezra said into her drink, breaking Lucy out of her distraction. Even Gray seemed caught off-guard by the comment, giving her a quizzical look. "Accepting defeat graciously. I'm surprised. Especially when you had external forces against you," she finished, giving him a knowing look.

Gray was surprised at first, but was quickly reminded once more of Erza's true strength. She wasn't only a fierce fighter but exceptionally observant. He smiled and nodded to her, realising that he could trust her word and that she would understand his reasons exactly. "There was no point in weakening both me and Natsu." He confirmed. He knew his rival well from all of the years that they had been by each other side, and Natsu's pride and sense of accomplishment could overpower his brain easily. He had needed to believe that he had won fairly otherwise he would have demanded re-match after re-match, and would not have rested until he had found out who had stacked the odds towards him.

Lucy looked between them both too, remembering what Juvia had shown her in the battle before. "I noticed it too," she told them both. "Your attacks and movements seemed different… Like somehow they were slower…."

Gray nodded, leaning back as he thought back to the embarrassing moments. "Whatever it was, it was powerful," he admitted. "And it didn't want me to win."

Lucy looked between them all, wondering if in her nativity she had missed something. "Why would anyone try to use that kind of powerful magic against Gray?"

"I'm not sure…" Erza admitted, holding onto her cup tightly. "Somehow this is all connected, I just can't see how…" she was convinced, staring forwards and hoping that the answers would somehow pop out of her mind. "Lucy, stay with Gray. Happy, you're with me. Until we can link these together we need to assume that Natsu will take care of the tournament and continue our search for the lacrima. Natsu was at least right about one thing, there are a lot of magic users in town right now and someone must know something."


	5. Chapter 5

Ep 5

The four were exhausted by the time that they met again, even little Happy was dragging his feet along the ground. "Did you find any luck?" Erza questioned, and everyone shook their heads.

In the horizon they could see huge flashes of magic, whirling winds and the occasional explosive fireball. It caught their attention and they all found themselves staring. "It's a shame that we couldn't be there to cheer on Natsu…" Lucy thought out loud, and every one of them agreed. From the few glimpses they could see it looked as if it had been a long and difficult day for them all, though they had certainly put on an excellent show. The few people that were still around pointed to the sky, children gasping and asking their parents what was happening. Even the adults seemed amazed and awestruck, so much more than anyone in Magnolia had been.

"You would have thought the people here had never seen a wizard battle before…" Gray commented, realising that people were staring at the four of them almost with the same awe that they had seen the competitors.

"Many of them haven't," Erza revealed, looking down at the children tugging their parent's hands, the fear and amazement confirming what she had already heard. "We spoke to Hibiki. He said that he had found no record of any previous wizarding tournaments in this area." She said, though seeing the archive wizard had also spread more information. The news of their tournament had also spread to Blue Pegasus, and they had received the invitation at around the same time that Fairy Tale had, just a few hours after they had left to take on the mission.

"But that doesn't make sense…" Lucy said slowly, wondering if there had been something that she too had missed. "But then I expect that it might work out good for us. If there are that many wizards and the Lacrima has magic as strong as they say, someone's bound to find it eventually…"

"That's it!" Erza shouted out, surprising everyone around her with her sudden outburst as she kicked her heels into the ground and began to run as fast as humanly possible towards the tournament.

Natsu looked at the arena, his eyes scanning over the large square fighting pit. Elfman was fighting against a man who easily doubled his size and who was showing off his impressive feats of strength. Mirajane was beside him, cheering on her brother and gasping in fear whenever his enemy gained the upper-hand. Natsu cheered along with her, but something about her presence and the way that she looked up at him made him feel suddenly alone. He was surrounded by friends, people that were excited for him and cheered him in the name of Fairy Tale, but almost everyone had their own favourites and loved ones, those they would cheer for louder and stronger than anyone else. In the strange calm that came from the to-ing and fro-ing of the his mind wandered to who would be the one to call his name if everyone was thrown against each other, and who would be the face he would want to see on the other side?

"Natsu!" As if conjured by his own imagination, Happy's carefree voice carried over the crowd as he flew above them.

Natsu laughed, barely able to believe how happy he was to see his friends running towards him. "You missed it!" he shouted back at them, "I won!"

"Well done Natsu!" Lucy shouted back, grinning from ear to ear and more than relieved to see that her friend was alright, and what was more that he had beaten the all-important first round. "We knew you could do it!"

They skidded to a stop in front of him, but Erza was far from finished. She looked around herself, at the wooden barriers around herself for any pieces of paper floating around the wind. "Who has won the first round?" she asked quickly, still in full-mission mode.

Surprised, Natsu pulled out the piece of paper he had in his pocket. "Levvy told me that I should be keeping an eye out for who everyone is and what their strengths and weaknesses are…" he said, passing her the piece of paper. "Why, are you expecting someone to be here?" he asked.

Erza's eyes opened wide, staring at all of the names and information on the sheet. She had expected to have to once again track down Hibiki for this kind of data, and Natsu would have been the last person she would have expected to take anything down. He must have been serious about winning, she decided, or perhaps simply impatient for his next fight. "Natsu, Lyon, Cana…" she began to read.

"Lyon?" Gray questioned, suddenly interested as a sudden panic came in that word would have already spread that Natsu had 'beaten' him.

"Huh? Oh yeah you weren't there," Natsu said, realising himself. It had obviously been quite a memorable battle from the way that he spoke, and even in the way that others had overheard. "Lyon vs Juvia. Poor Juvia…"

Gray gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly. Juvia would have struggled to match Lyon's talent at the best of times, but for her to face another ice maker after what had happened last night he knew that she would have either been fierce or a crumbling mess. It was clear which route she had fallen upon.

"Ice Maker, Fire Dragon Slayer, Card Holder Magic…" there was a huge cheer from the crowds as Elfman stood across the unconscious fighter. "Takeover Magic…" Ezra trailed off, staring up at Elfman. She tried to tell herself it was a coincidence, but it all seemed to slot together too perfectly. "Natsu, who did you fight against in your first round?" she asked him quickly.

Natsu shrugged. "Oh, Gajeel."

Lucy, Happy's and Gray's eyes both went wide at they looked at his carefree nature. "You beat Gajeel?!"

"Don't act so surprised!" Natsu yelled back at them, deeply insulted.

As if summoned, Gajeel was not far away. He had a deeper frown than usual, a look of terror in his eyes and a look that could kill aimed straight towards Natsu. That wasn't what was most surprising about him, however. His body was already in bandages, white hiding from under his cloak and a sling around his wrist. Compared to Natsu, he looked as if he had been dragged through hell and back. "That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't cheated!" he shouted out at them.

Natsu folded his arms, rolling his eyes. "You're a sore loser. I beat you fair and square," he told him confidently.

"You weakened my attacks!" Gajeel yelled, stomping his feet forwards in what would have looked threatening if not for his previous injuries. "You did something that slowed down my magic, you had someone work from outside the ring!"

Lucy turned to Erza. "That sounds like what happened to Gray in his fight against Natsu…"

Natsu gripped his fists hard, flames rising above him as anger filled him. "I beat them both fair and square! Maybe my powers are just getting stronger!"

Erza nodded to Lucy, clearly holding her view more than Natsu's, holding forward the notes for everyone to see. "Look at each of the winners and competitors. They've used the qualifying rounds to pull someone from every type of magic. Dragon Slayer, Maker, Holder, Take Over, Elemental. Everyone has been paired with their most similar magic energy pattern."

"But why?" Lucy asked as they all gathered around, realising that Erza had been right. While many times of magical energy existed, to see everyone paired against each other in such a way was strange.

"The whole tournament has not just been a distraction, but a camouflage for an even bigger magical energy pattern," she concluded. "The Ultima Lacrima."


	6. Chapter 6

Ep 6

"I can't believe you're pretending that I cheated." Natsu folded his arms and pouting not unlike a spoilt child.

Lucy's mouth hung open. " _That's_ what you've taken from all this?!"

Natsu, seemingly unphased, pointed an accusing finger in Gray's direction giving him an angry glare. "I beat you! Hands down! You can't say I cheated!"

Gray's arms were folded, quietly confident as he simply replied "I didn't say that you cheated." But of course, just to push his luck, he also added "but I did let you win."

Natsu wasn't certain whether to feel anger, disappointment or dismay. Of course, as it was Gray in front of him, challenging him in that certain way that only he could, the ball of fire rose from inside his belly and came out as hot words. "Oh yeah! You want a rematch and I'll beat you again!?"

"Don't you see what is happening?!" Erza asked, looking at them both, wondering for the millionth time if it was even worth throwing apart their fighting. "Someone is trying to change the outcome of the matches to make the final rounds as diverse as possible. Lyon was already an Ice Maker, with the similar casting style to Gray as they studied under the same teacher."

"But Gajeel and Natsu are both Dragon Magic…" Lucy commented, looking between the Iron Dragon and the Fire Dragon and comparing the two together. "And there are different magic types that got kicked out of the first round…"

"These kinds of magic may seem all different to an amateur," Erza said, watching as they began to empty the ring. "But magic has its pattern, a wave emission. What we call 'combinational' magic is magic that seems completely different, but when actioned together can create a flawless unison. In that way, Gajeel and Lexus may have completely different powers but Gajeel's iron and Ama's electricity can, in theory, create perfect unison."

"So what you're saying is that Natsu doesn't get along with anyone!" Happy chirped up.

"Hey!" Natsu yelled again, tightening his fist threateningly to anyone who dared to question him. "I get on with everyone!" He gave a sigh, feeling that everyone was trying to ruin his perfect moments of triumph. "Besides, if everyone is supposed to be so different, why do we have two re-quip mages?"

"Wha-?" Erza looked again at the listings, realising that Natsu had been right. There had been two mages who specialised in re-quip, which while the powers were not rare, put a hole in her current theory. "Bisca and… who is Eyan? I've never heard of him before…"

Natsu shrugged. "Beats me, but he's my opponent tomorrow and all I need to know is how to beat him!"

After asking further, the only thing that people could agree on was that he was a requip wizard and a particularly strong one, but people seemed to argue over everything else. While they had all been convinced they had seen him fight, none of them seemed to agree on his fighting style or appearance, though this was unsurprising considering how much ale was flowing and how many battles had raged throughout the day. Drinks continued to poor and since emotions were high the fights continued on to the rest of the night as well, Natsu both determined to reclaim in honour in beating Gray and Gajeel and begging Erza for lessons on how to defeat a mage with her abilities. To protect him from himself, she eventually agreed, though her lesson was for more training and far less fighting than he had expected.

As the sun began to set, Natsu stared out into the sky. Red washed over the horizon and he could almost imagine a red dragon soaring and blasting fire into the cool air. Thinking of Igneel may have made him sad, but it made him all the more determined. "After all of the training you gave me there's no way that I can lose now," he thought out loud.

Erza gave him a warm smile back, reluctant to admit just how much she had enjoyed teaching him and actually providing some use. There had been laughter through the sweat, though she had been relentless. "I don't know what this Eyan is like… but I know you won't give up easily."

Accepting the complement, a wide grin crossed Natsu's face as he sat up, eyes lost in the sparkling river and scenery. "I never do!" he admitted. "You don't think that I couldn't have beaten Gray, do you?"

Erza looked at him, realising that he was being surprisingly sincere. This tournament had meant a lot to him, strength and friendship pushed him to new heights and he seemed to gain something knowing that he was capable of protecting the people he loved when they could not. She thought carefully, knowing that the answer would mean a lot more to him and would carry with him for some time. "I've watched you and Gray fight for as long as I can remember, Natsu, and I've never seen you lose. But I've never seen you win, either, and I think that can be a good thing."

"Huh?" he questioned, "How can that be a good thing?"

"It's important to have someone that can push you further, someone that can help you discover parts of your strength you never even knew existed. The stronger that you get, the harder Gray works to beat you, and the stronger that Gray becomes the more you unleash your power. The day will come that one of you will slow, one of you will lose and the other will win. I don't know who and I don't know when, but I can guess." She smiled back at him. "Make the most of this time while you can, Natsu."


	7. Chapter 7

Ep 7

An agreement was quickly made between the five heroes. Since they hadn't been able to make any headway with their mission they agreed that it made sense for four friends to watch Natsu and cheer on his battle before moving on. Erza reminded them that she had suspicions about the tournament, even if there were two requip wizards, and that she wanted to be able to stay close to the action and there was no harm in cheering on the first battle of the day before going back to what was at hand. All of Natsu's strength felt tenfold at the notion that they would all be there to be his personal cheering squad, keeping him awake long into the night even as he refused to rest for the early start.

"Besides, I'm not starting half as early as most of the others," he said as he threw back another drink.

"But you're the first match! Why aren't you going there early?" Happy asked him, wondering if he had made a mistake.

He shrugged and had very little form of an answer to that, clearly not wanting to change his timings if they were wrong. They used the time that they could, joking and laughing while wishing the best of luck to their fellow guild members. They all agreed that if anyone were to win, it would be someone from their legendary guild, and that whoever was left would be the one that everyone cheered for. No doubt, of course, every other guild had a similar proposal.

As night was starting to turn to day, the spirits began to dip and dive between enjoyment and annoyance. Gray had stayed for as long as he had been able to stand while Natsu gloated and cheered, but there was only so much even he could take. Gajeel had already disappeared earlier in the night, for similar reasons he realised, but while Gray had been a close enough friend to be there for his comrade, the more tired they became the more the words and laughter grated.

"Where are you going?" Erza asked, realising that he was headed towards the door.

Gray shrugged, realising that whatever he said Erza would know the true answer. "I'm going to arena while there's no one else there. See if I can find anything." He disappeared into the darkness before Erza challenged him, knowing that she would have asked for someone else to come with him. In truth he knew that after yesterday he shouldn't have been travelling the city alone, but the battle between Gajeel and Natsu told him that reasonably something was helping Natsu rather than working specifically against him. Even still, he couldn't stand the idea of company right now. Even if it had been for the right reasons, his pride had still been wounded from his battle against Natsu, and watching him compete further would drag his defeat further. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how well he would have been able to fight against Gajeel, and it would have been interesting to see how well he had ranked compared to him.

He was so determined to stay in his solidarity that as soon as he became aware there was another walking the same path as him he slipped into the shadows. He would have left but quickly realised that he had walked into a one-way street, and from the whispered tones he could tell that this was a conversation that he wasn't supposed to believe.

"Things are working to plan," said one clothed figure to the other as they walked slowly, not even allowing any light to pass near them. "I've placed the enchantment on the arena. Are you prepared for your battle tomorrow?"

A white toothy grin was all that could be seen under the cloak. "Don't worry about that Fire Rat. He's as good as gone. Just make sure that you keep up your side."

Gray leaned forwards, still careful not to be seen but realising that they were talking tactics, in particular regarding a certain 'Fire Rat'. If the arena was enchanted from the moment that they walked in Natsu's chances could have faltered as soon as they had begun. No matter how much he would have wished to stop Natsu's incessant cheering, Gray knew that he couldn't hide anything like this from him.

The first figure nodded. "I'll slow him down all I can, Eyan, but I've heard he is quite powerful," he confirmed. "Just get the job done, or you'll suffer his fate."


	8. Chapter 8

Ep 8

"You're sure that there's some kind of enchantment here?" Levy asked, looking around herself as they walked into the outskirts of the arena.

Gray nodded. He had already explained what had been said to him before, but had yet to work out exactly what it all meant. "I'm sure that they were talking about Natsu's battle. His is the first tomorrow."

Levy yawned loudly as she stretched. "You mean today" she reminded him, looking up at the sky and seeing the faintest of golden shadows in the distance, a faint reminder that the sun would rise at any moment. She stood at the side of the main arena itself, all tiredness escaping from her as she suddenly felt the all-familiar magical energy of an enchantment. "You're right!" she gasped as she carefully stepped forwards and held out her hand.

"I am?" Gray questioned.

Levy nodded and her fingers brushed against thin air. It rippled under her touch, buzzing and whirling as a magic circle appeared gripping the sides of the fighting pits. Pink and purple symbols materialised in the thin air, running on and on for what seemed like miles of transcript. "I've never seen such a complicated Magic Circle before!" Levy gasped, putting on her glasses quickly and pushing them up her nose.

Gray's mouth hung open. Levy had studied these things, and Freed was no stranger to using magic circles to entrap both friends and enemies alike when the time was right. She had always been the best expert on these kinds of things, but he hadn't expected her to be surprised by it. "What does it say?" he asked, finding himself unable to even begin to read it.

"It's in Lavinian…" she said, trying to read as quickly as possible. "I'm struggling to translate it all but…" she gasped suddenly.

"What? What does it say?"

"It says that the spell cannot be broken until someone has been KO'd. The first to lose consciousness… will die!" she gasped, staring back for some new answer. "There are all kinds of rules, too. Whoever wrote this was very serious. It will take me some time to translate it all but… Gray, if Natsu is beaten in there then he'll die!"

Gray stepped backwards, staring at the arena with wide eyes. What had all seemed like an annoyance to him moments before he could have never assumed would be so deadly. There was always a risk when it came to wizard battles, but it was unlikely for anyone to be have any lasting scars when they were all being watched so carefully by thousands of people. "Or a fate worse than death…." Gray said slowly, his eyes fading into darkness and his hands gripping tightly. "to kill someone else." Even as he spoke he could see his master Ur walking away into the night, could hear Lyon's screams at him and the guilt that he had lived with his whole life. He couldn't imagine Natsu having to live with that dark shadow hanging over his life, following him everywhere he went, just as Gray had had to live with himself.

"We have to tell him!" Levy said, jumping up and almost making her way out of the arena.

"Wait!" Gray called quickly, holding onto her arm. "This is Natsu we're talking about. He would take it as a challenge."

Levy held her lips close together, remembering just how excitable Natsu had obviously been about the whole tournament. She had not been trying to pay much mind to it, but it had been hard to ignore. "But… if we don't tell him, what can we do? We can't let him fight…"

Gray looked back at the words dazzling in front of his eyes, and all of the difficulty that they showed. He refused to let the light go out of Natsu's eyes, whichever way that may be. "I'll take care of Natsu. Can you break the spell?"

Levy stared back too, taking in a long slow breath as she faced her biggest challenge yet. "It'll take some time. Maybe six hours or so, if I can translate the entire rules… If we are lucky…"

"Six hours…" Gray repeated, looking up at the sky and trying to judge the time. "We have four until the battle is supposed to begin."


	9. Chapter 9

Ep 9

In the far side of the town, past the river and floating on towards mountains, was a cave system that ran straight into the heart of the country. It didn't take much to get into the lairs, but one fateful step and you could be trapped inside its halls forever never to find a hint of sunshine again. Because of this the cave system was feared by most of the locals, and no one before had dared enter. That was, of course, before several weeks ago, as some travellers who were not familiar with the area found their way into the system. Just as they had felt helplessly lost, they heard voices, and what followed left them running barely with their life in-tact.

Kai had lived his life with no intention of being within the cave, and nothing had changed since. He looked across the walls as he shivered uncontrollably, trying to count the time that he had spent here, the days that he had travelled, the years since they had first spoken to him. Of course it had only felt that way, but his head felt more confused every time he came near the Syrens.

In the middle was the man that he needed to speak to, the one who made him shiver the most though he had never seen the true extent of his power. "M-M-Mr. Dao…" He bowed his head quickly, terrified of his impatience. "The tournament has finished its first rounds, as you specified. You predicted everyone correctly…. But how?"

The man, Dao, gave a half smile as he felt confidence in his work. "My student has learnt well. One day he may learn enough to exceed me." For some reason, this was hilarious, as he expelled a manic and terrifying laughter throughout the halls.

"P-pl-please Mr. Dao…. Can I see my family? Are they alright?" Kai asked, daring himself to be brave for the thing that he cared most about.

"Your family?" Dao's eyes went wide as he grinned from ear to ear. "Don't worry about them. You will soon be with them… for eternity!"


	10. Chapter 10

Ep 10

"Natsu!"

Natsu turned around, a torch in each hand for his breakfast fire. He turned to see the blue haired woman running towards him, a flurry of rain following her footsteps as he quickly pulled away his torches before they could be extinguished. "Juvia? What's the big idea? What are you doing here?" he asked her, looking at the distressed look on her face. He had seen that look several times in the last few days, on the few occasional she had been in sight, but had wondered if something had happened. Gray and Juvia had been seen coming into the celebrations together, and had done little to turn away any rumours either way. There had been a deep sadness in her eyes, however, and her familiar raincloud hadn't been far behind.

She stopped just in front of him, holding her hands close to her chest as she trembled. "Natsu, its Gray. We went into the mountains, he said he was determined to beat some monster to prove that he was just as strong as you. There was an avalanche…. He's trapped and he needs someone to melt the snow!" she gasped, closing her eyes tightly together as she remembered vividly all that had happened.

"Huh?" Natsu said, blinking several times as he looked at her in disbelief. His ego quickly overcame him. "Gray needs me, ha?" he shouted, grinning from ear to ear. "I can come and save him and beat him all over again! We should get Erza and-"

"No!" Juvia gasped suddenly, staring at him with large eyes. "You can't tell anyone else! He… he…. He didn't want Juvia to tell anyone… but Juvia is worried…"

Natsu put his hands on his hips, still beaming widely. However, a sudden thought struck him as he looked up at the clock tower. "I can't miss my fight…" he explained.

"It's not far away," she convinced him, taking a small step back in urgency and hoping that he would be quicker to move. "Juvia has just come back, and it didn't take Juvia long. You'll be back in time, Juvia is sure of it. Please help… my dear Gray…"

The desperation in her voice convinced him, but he had very much wanted to be convinced. "Alright! Save Gray and prove I am the most powerful wizard! This will be one great morning!" he shouted out, already rushing ahead and in his haste leaving Juvia in the dust, screaming out that she was supposed to be leading him.

As Natsu raced ahead she looked back on the town, wishing that in the faces she could see where Gray was. She was certain that he was busy making every plan that he could, and had not questioned the actions she had been asked to do. Deep down she knew the relationship between Natsu and Gray was a troubled one, but that Gray was kind particularly to those he held closest and he would never have told her to lie without a very good reason. "Juvia will do anything for Gray… just as Gray will do anything for Natsu…" she whispered to herself, a tear falling down her cheek as she turned back and began to run after Natsu once more.


	11. Chapter 11

Ep 11

"A magic circle…?" Lucy repeated, taking a step back as she heard the news visibly shaking already.

Gray nodded, his arms crossed across his chest. "Levy is trying to break the spell but it will take her hours before its completed. Juvia has taken Natsu away and she gave me her word that she would keep him away until after the spell has been broken."

Happy looked down to his feet "Poor Natsu's going to be really upset that he didn't get to fight..."

"There will be plenty of time for fighting later, I'm sure." Erza said, knowing that this only meant that they were closer and someone was trying to work hard to stop them. "Right now we need to make sure that no one else goes into the fighting ring instead. Lucy, I need you to go into the Blue Pegasus camp and warn everyone that is supposed to battle today. Gray, you go to Lamia scale. Happy, we need you to warn our friends in Fairy Tale. Find anyone else you can who will be fighting."

Happy looked up, spreading his wings widely and with a determined, excited look on his face. "Yes! But what about you, Erza?"

"I'm going to speak to whoever is behind this tournament," she said, and as she had expected no one tried to change their instructions. They knew that time was of the essence, and ran each to all four corners of the towns shouting the names of those they knew who could land themselves in a difficult situation.

Erza raced ahead, her long red hair flowing behind her as she ran to the first place that they had heard of the tournament. A new notice was where Natsu had ripped off the first, proclaiming the same message of joy that would come with winning against the wizards, and the tempting pay at the end of it. It had seemed like an unbelievable payoff, she realised as she glared at the black and white paper, and now she had spent some days within the town she had to question where anyone would have gathered that amount of jewel. There was no name written on the flyer, but as this was the first invitation there was an announcement of where the sign-ups would happen. It was as good a place as any to start, and she ripped down the flyer and began to jog to the town hall.

There was a gasp from her lips as she looked up at the 'town hall'. It was more of a hut, large letters taking up half of the roof stating that it was definitely a place of responsibility. She wondered how no one could have seen that this was not exactly the kind of place that had 500,000 jewel to spend on some simple game, but with the excitement she had to admit that even she would have wanted to believe. Her heavy fist hit the wooden door, and she waited.

Eventually, there was a creak and two eyes poked out from behind the door. "Y-Y-Y-Yes?" Kai answered, his voice trembling almost as much as his knees.

The wizard was caught back, not expecting to have seen someone so feeble and afraid simply at the knock at the town hall. "I'm Erza Scarlett, Fairy Tale Wizard. I'm looking for the person in charge of the tournament."

The door opened slightly wider and Kai swallowed hard, trying to stand as tall as he could and still coming too short of the woman. "That would be me… H-h-how can I help you?"


	12. Chapter 12

Ep 12

Natsu looked up at the mountain, still feeling the warmth of the summer air and knowing that they were no-where near anywhere that could cause an avalanche even after their walking. "Are you sure that we'll get there in time?" he asked Juvia off-handedly.

Juvia nodded quickly and obediently. "It won't be much farther…" she assured him, her eyes glancing closer to the familiar water of the river than to the distant discomforts of the mountain side.

"If you say so…" Natsu replied, his hands behind his head as he continued to walk. The excitement had worn off now, and even though he was walking he was dangerously close to getting bored. His new companion had spoken very little during his journey, and this was beginning to annoy him. "So what's the deal with you and Gray?"

Juvia almost jumped out of her skin, "W-what deal?!" she asked, her heart racing fast.

"Oh, you know," Natsu said, not even paying much attention to the over-the-top reaction she gave. "You two seem to be together a lot at the moment. Like going into the mountains together."

Juvia slowed her steps to a stop, her eyes watering and hiding under the shadow her brilliantly blue hair. Natsu found himself stopping too as he realised there was a heavy silence in the air, looking back at her and trying to work out what he had said that was so wrong. "It's not like it's a secret, is it?" Natsu questioned, tilting his head to one side innocently.

Juvia could feel her body shiver, feel the emotions rising and falling inside of her. The constant raincloud in her heart was pulsing, telling her that everything was hopeless and opening the wounds that were all too recent to hide. She couldn't even look Natsu in the eye but she could feel his concern, his kind-hearted nature and a childishness naivity. "You really…. Don't know…" she whispered.

"Hm?" He took a small step forwards. "Know what?"

She threw her head back, tear filled eyes glaring at him as she pulled her fists up, a deep breath in. "Natsu… YOU ARE MY RIVAL!" she shouted loudly. Before Natsu could speak or defend himself, she pushed her arms forwards. "Water Slicer!"

Natsu gasped, completely in shock and unable to dodge out of the sudden attack. He was, of course, stronger enough for her primary attack to give him less than a scratch, but it had still sent him flying into the river beside them. "Hey, whats the big idea?!" he shouted back at her as he jumped to his feet, ready to cast his own attacks back.

"Bon Voyage, Natsu"

Natsu looked at her confused, instinctively taking a step back to stabalise himself and realising quickly that the ground was swaying, and solid against the water. As Juvia's eyes filled with more tears, the image of Natsu falling to his knees disappeared into a blur. With her tears flowed more water, the river growing higher and the raft Natsu was left on floating and shaking beneath him, the sudden sickness throwing him to the ground and rendering him instantly weak. She watched as the pink blur became smaller and smaller in the distance, falling to her own knees and unable to stop the tears that blinded her.


	13. Chapter 13

Ep 13

Time was passing quickly. The sun was already in the sky and most of the citizens of the town and its visitors had eaten and were starting to make their way towards the arena.

Lucy looked around herself quickly, her teeth gritted tightly together. She hadn't been able to find a single competitor for the tournament ahead, and time was running out. If anyone found out that Natsu wasn't around to compete before the first fight began she knew that she could only do so much to stop the next fight from happening. She jumped forwards as she saw Happy and Gray come from different directions, all of them realising at once clearly that they had spent all the time they dared to each camp. "Did you warn many people?" she asked.

They shook their heads. "No one," Gray told her.

"They said that everyone had already gone early in the morning…" Happy said, letting go of his aera magic and standing on his own two feet again. "What do we do, Lucy?"

Lucy held her breath, knowing that time was ticking away too quickly. Somehow it had been left to her, to make the difficult decisions and to protect her friends. It all seemed too much, but staring back at Gray and Happy's faces, she knew that someone had to take control. "We need to stop anyone from going in the magic circle. Use whatever magic we have to protect it."

"Gray!" The sound of footsteps caused them all to turn, exactly in the direction that they were supposed to be going in. Levy held a stack of books, papers and ink in her hands, a wide-eyed and desperate look on her face. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Levy, did you get any further with breaking the spell?" Gray asked quickly, sensing even before he asked the answer was not good.

Levy nodded. "I translated the rest of the rules," she said, pulling out a long sheet of paper and passing it to him.

Their mouths hung open. "There's so many….!" Lucy responded, staring at the paper. "I had no idea magic circles could be so complicated!"

"They're rarely are," she said, pushing her glasses further up her nose. "The more complicated they are the more likely that they break down and a loophole is found. It usually makes them easier to crack."

"Usually?" Happy chirped up.

Levy nodded once more. "I can break the spell easily, but I can already see that there are self—destruct spells built into the circle. It will still take some time to diffuse the spell without setting it off."

Lucy's eyes trailed to behind Levy, to all of the cheering children dragging their parents to the arena, the friends that she had become to think of as family already excited and cheering. It was growing busier by the moment, and it was anyone's just how powerful the destruct spells could become. "If we try and evacuate the arena it'll spread panic…" she said, holding her hand tight shut across her chest. "People could get hurt…"

"Levy, did you see any of the other contestants at the arena?" Gray asked her quickly.

Levy put a finger on her chin, thinking quickly. "Now you say that, I haven't seen anyone all morning," she mused. "Except for a man, I think he must be Eyan. He came into the ring only a few minutes after you left."

Lucy squealed "There's already someone in the magic circle!?"

Levy nodded. "That's what I needed to warn you!" she told them, pointing back to the list of rules. "It says here that once the first person enters, if a second doesn't within two hours the self-destruct will activate!"

They all looked at her in horror, all taking a step back. "You're saying they're forcing one of us to fight to the death or the entire arena will explode?!" Lucy squealed, her face already pale.

Levy's mouth spread into a thin line, speaking loudly and clearly making sure that there was no mistaking the next few words. "We have fifteen minutes."

The horror had little time to sink in. In fifteen minutes, hundreds of people would either be in the middle of a magical explosion or unknowingly cheering on the death of a wizard.

Gray gave a long sigh. "Please tell me you can break the spell in that time….?" He asked her, knowing that it was quite a demand.

Levy bit her lip. "I should have the answer in fourty-five minutes, if I can be undisturbed."

"That's thirty minutes in the arena…." Gray turned to Happy. "Happy, can you get Natsu back in time?!"

Happy nodded, already spreading his wings out. "Aye!" He confirmed, shooting away into the skies the direction that Gray was vaguely pointing towards.

"Gray…" Lucy trembled, her voice barely having the strength to say words that she wasn't certain she wanted to become real. "We can't let Natsu fight in the arena… can we?" she whispered.

He turned away, unable to answer her question, unable to even think about what possibilities lay ahead within the fifteen minutes remaining.


	14. Chapter 14

Ep 14

Happy flew as fast as he could, racing against the wind. He knew that there wasn't much time, but as always he had every faith and the hope that Natsu had always shown him. He raced through the air, shouting "Natsu!" but quite honestly had no idea where to look. Gray had been pointing somewhere towards the mountains but earlier Gray admitted even he hadn't known exactly where he had been taken. "Natsu!"

He stopped his flight suddenly, seeing someone below. With little other option he knew he had to start asking if the pink spiky haired kid had been spotted in the area. As he flew closer, he could hear sobbing, as the young woman was hunched over the river. He gasped quietly, landing in front of her and stepping cautiously forwards. "Juvia…?" he asked her quietly.

Juvia lifted her head, surprised to have seen anyone else. She had half expected to have been taken away by the river, to have been long gone and able to just escape into a vast ocean somewhere. "Happy…"

Happy was torn, knowing that there was tears in Juvia's eyes but that if he didn't act fast then there could be lives at stake. "Juvia, have you seen Natsu?"

She swallowed hard, realising exactly what he was here for and trying to keep her resolve. "Juvia made a promise…" she whispered.

"Gray said that you'd taken Natsu away!" Happy told her, which seemed to surprise her significantly. "Things have changed! You have to give him back now!"

"Juvia promised Gray…" she whispered, "… that Natsu would not be around to fight…"

"Things have changed!" he shouted, turning his tiny paw into a less than fierce fist. "We need Natsu now! Gray sent me to get him back otherwise people will get hurt."

She looked up with a small gasp. Could she believe this small cat, was it true that Gray had really said those things? She knew that Happy had always been a loyal friend to Natsu, but she had never known him to be anything but honest. If she disappointed Gray she wasn't sure how she could live with herself, but she couldn't decide what would disappoint him most. "Juvia would never mean to cause harm to Natsu…" she assured Happy.

Happy tilted his head slightly. "Harm him?"

Juvia pointed across the river, the beautiful blue ripples rushing far away. "We'll have to Hurry, Happy. He's on a raft," she said, the determination of completing a task bringing her back to her feet. She had to believe that this would be the one, the true act to finally prove herself worthy to Gray. Happy was beside her, his wings already out and racing forwards, she was following, running along the riverbed careful to not get washed away by its speeding currents.

"Natsu!" Happy called out, dashing forwards as he could see a raft against the water. The river was getting choppier here, and they had to run faster just to keep up with the currents.

"Careful Happy!" Juvia called out, realising that he was flying close to the water. "These are rapids!" she said, realising the water was throthing and ahead twigs and leafs were being ripped away quickly. The raft was getting further away, not closer, and as fast as she could she could not keep up. Even Happy's wings were struggling to keep close, and the gushes of water began to slow his wings. A frown crossed her face. "Happy, if Juvia slows the raft, can you pull Natsu away?"

"Aye!" Happy nodded. "But what are you going to do?"

She strayed from the path, slowing to take a single step into the water. "Don't worry about Juvia. Juvia is always safe in water." With that her body began to sink down, slowly at first before melting into the rapids, a streak of dark blue against the white foam and cloudy water. Happy watched, his mouth open wide and turning into a cheer as he saw her move to the raft, rushing under it and pushing the water back.

In all the excitement he almost forgot what he was supposed to do, blasting forwards and grabbing onto Natsu just as the raft broke into pieces, flying him high into the sky. The dark streak of blue continued down the river, seemingly uncaring of what true form for now. "We did it Juvia!" Happy cheered, and looked down at Natsu that he was carrying. "Hey, you can stop feeling travel sick now, it's just me."

Natsu shook his head suddenly, looking around himself and kicking his legs and arms out as he complained angrily. Happy held him carefully, used to him moving around a lot, and went on to explain to him all he knew, reminding him that this was his battle and he was sure to win.


	15. Chapter 15

Ep 15

With the clock ticking away all too quickly, Lucy and Gray spread among the growing crowds on the side of the arena. When first arriving they had both been shocked by the man already in the centre of the large square, sitting and waiting paying no mind to the rest of the world around him. He was huge, rivalling even Elfman's size, though he bore no weapon there was a magical presence around him that they could not place. Erza had been right, however, as the crowds filled it was harder to pinpoint any kind of aura from the area around, and it would be the best place for some kind of weapon to be deployed.

"I can't see the other wizard anywhere," Gray said after a few moments of looking around, but the crowds were working against him. He had barely seen the man's face before, but in an area of this size and movement it was hard to have even noticed a friend.

Lucy panted, feeling out of breath from the pressure and rushing around. "I can't see Erza anywhere. I can't see any of the other contestants, either!"

Gray gritted his teeth, seeing from across the ring Mira was looking around for her brother desperately, whispers from every guild had circulated but it was difficult to tell if it was all a part of the tournament. The air was already alive with energy, if the wrong whispers took form then a widespread panic could crush them all. "We're running out of time… Natsu where are you…?"

Levy looked up from her books, sitting cross-legged on the floor a little away from the main crowds but still close enough to study carefully and spring into action. She gasped. "What are you two waiting for?!" she shouted back at them. "Huh? Why is the circle still there if we've run out of time?" she asked.

The two looked confused back at her, and back to the large clock towards the centre of the arena. "What are you talking about? We still have ten minutes," Gray informed her.

"What?" Levy asked, standing up as she looked at the clock. "But I've been studying here for seventeen minutes…" she said slowly, staring at the clock.

The clock ticked forwards. Two minutes at a time.

Lucy squealed, rushing back. "WAH! The clock's wrong!" she screamed, staring at it in dismay.

Levy gritted her teeth, cursing herself for trusting the clock better than her own instincts. She now didn't even have a record of when he had stepped into the ring, and all that she could do was waste precious time she should have spent on nullifying the spell on trying to once more read it. Pulling out her pen, she pushed it forwards as her hands scribbled into the air, trying to bring only some of the magical symbols to life.

The crowds cheered loudly as for all of them to see, a countdown of one minute and thirty seconds appeared.


	16. Chapter 16

Ep 16

Natsu looked down at the crowd, the sickness in his stomach finally leaving him as his body became accustomed to the comforting beat of Happy's wings compared to the sicking waves of the rapids. Looking down he was slowly coming to realise just how busy the arena was, more so than most he would have expected from such a small town. Below him was his friends, the guild that he had always loved, and a battle that would shape him forever.

He held his hand into a tight fist, a grin crossing his face. "I'm ready," he smirked.

"Just go easy on him, ok Natsu?" Happy reminded him, waving around in the air as they came closer and looking for somewhere to land.

"Go easy on him?!" Natsu cried out. "Not a chance! No one tries to harm me or my friends and walks away from it!"

"But Natsu, if you beat him then you'll kill him…" Happy reminded him.

"Oh, right, I forgot."

"You forgot that already?!"

Natsu thought for a moment, before a new smile came to his face. "I'll just have to beat up the magic circle too," he cheered.

Happy began to float down to the ground, careful as Natsu's feet reached the floor before he dropped his own flying magic. "Same old Natsu…" he commented quietly, watching as Natsu rushed into the ring.

With a sudden thud, Natsu stopped dead in his tracks, pushing up against thin air. He jumped back, looking for an obstical and realising that pink and purple writing shimmered through the air which he had hit, and his fists tightened. "Hey what's the big idea?!" he shouted at the magic circle. "I'm meant to be fighting. How am I supposed to fight if I can't even get in!"

"Sorry Natsu…" Gray said, standing a few metres directly in front of him, exactly where Natsu was unable to walk. "You were too late."


	17. Chapter 17

Ep 17

A cheer erupted from the crowds and looked up suddenly, staring in the direction it had come from. She was still in the 'town hall', talking to an upset mayor who was doing all he could to explain what had happened and why he had been powerless to stop it. She had spent longer here than she would have liked, she realised as she quickly stood up. "The fight!"

Kai looked up, trembling. "Ohh… oh dear…" he said slowly, not knowing the full extent himself but sensing that things would only be getting worse from here on out.

Erza gritted her teeth, heaving her stance. Had Lucy, Happy and Gray failed to warn the others and stop the next fight from going on? Or had Natsu come back in time and walked straight into the trap? She ran out as quickly as she could, fearing the worst.

"You stole my place you bastard!" Natsu was shouting across the arena, red flames spurting from his hands and mouth as he yelled. "Come back out and let me fight and then I'll kick your butt too!" he yelled.

Erza gasped, looking across the arena. The crowd was cheering, though a little confused, but it seemed that after what had felt like waiting for an eternity there had finally been a battle to be fought. There were whispers, wondering who the dark haired man in the centre of the square ring was, and even more as some of them recognised the pink-haired dragon slayer yelling at him from the side, pushing back against what looked like thin air with flaming fists.

The huge man smirked, rising to his feet and staring down his opponent. "You don't seem surprised at our magic circle, Fire Rat."

Gray turned to look at his true enemy, trying to ignore the yelling from outside of his battle. He had to concentrate, one wrong move could lead to the unimaginable. He pushed his fist against his flat hand, cool air spiralling around his arms. "I'm no Fire Rat."

The man was caught off-guard, his eyes wide for a moment. He was given explicit orders to kill the Dragon Slayer, but had been told nothing about ice magic. He finally became aware of the shouting and foot-stomping from outside of the ring, the flames that were rising into the air. So that was the man he was supposed to fight, and this was an imposter! He grinned, the air around his hand turning bright gold as it folded itself into the shape of the giant axe from his re-quip magic. "No matter, I'll gut you all the same," he announced, swinging downwards just as Gray jumped up out of the way, pushing out his ice lance towards Eyan.

Erza came closer to the ring, looking up with wide eyes as the fight was already starting to begin. "What's he doing in there?!" Erza asked. "I thought you were trying to keep everyone out!"

Lucy's mouth was a thin line, looking up with fear. "The ring was time-rigged. If no one had entered in time, then the magic circle would have self-destructed…" she said, feeling helpless. She told herself that she would have stepped in herself, if only given the chance. The magic circle was specific, only two people could be in the circle at once, and if she had tried to pull any of her celestial spirits in with her then the entire magic could have crumbled around them. In truth, however, she knew that she had just been too afraid to step inside. She wasn't strong, she had never been strong, not in the way that Natsu, Gray or Erza would have ran into the ring without a second thought.

Natsu gritted his teeth, remembering the words Gray told him. "I wasn't late!" he shouted out. "Right, Happy?"

"Aye!" he responded, before looking at the clock and tilting his head "Um… I think?"

"What do you mean you think?!" Natsu demanded.

"The clock's broken," Lucy told him. "We all thought we had more time!" She flinched as she saw one of the huge brute's attack land squarely against Gray, sending him rolling back into the ground. "We have to do _something_!"

Gray pulled himself up. The attack hadn't been much, but it hadn't been the best of starts, especially when his life was on the line. He knew that he was holding himself back, unwilling to push this man into an early grave if his magic completely outmatched him, but his power was more than he had expected. He knew, eventually, the moment may come where he had to decide if he was willing to give up his own life or take someone else's.


	18. Chapter 18

Ep 18

"He's distracted…" Erza commented, just as another strike barely missed the ice maker.

"Well it is pretty distracting…" Happy said.

"Gray you stole my fight!" Natsu continued to shout at him. "Come out so that I can fight you instead, coward!"

"Don't distract him more…." Lucy whimpered.

Gray's feet hit the floor, taking in deep breaths and assessing the situation. He had taken some blows, too many compared to the amount that he needed to land. He couldn't help himself but hold back, the vision of Ur disappearing coming back to haunt him every time that he cast a spell. Wizard's and battles always had their risks, there was always a chance that someone could die, but when it was spelt out in writing in front of them the stakes became higher. This wasn't the time to think about that now. Now was the time to be strong, to be brave, and to do whatever it took to beat the spell. Levy was still working on breaking the magic, all he had to do was stay standing, hold his own. He jumped up, hands together and a blue spiral appearing in front of him "Ice Make Hammer!" he shouted out.

There was a gasp from the crowd as Gray hung mid-air, his magic unable to land the blow. His eyes went wide, staring at the powerful hammer but try as he might he could not lift his arms to pull it back and land his attack. There were whispers all around, this strange magic that had taken over.

"He's stopped!?" Lucy cried out, confused.

Eyan grinned to himself, his huge axe glowing suddenly and changing shape into a hammer, mimicking the useless ice one in front of him. "I see we have no need to be subtle anymore." With that, he threw down his hammer, slamming Gray into a pile of dust.

Erza's keen eyes ran across the arena. "It's the same magic from his last battle. Something stopped him!" she said, using her own requip magic to pull out a sword. "Eyan's magic won't be able to do anything like that. There must be someone outside of the ring affecting it. We need to split up and find them!"

They all nodded, and began to run in different locations. It seemed like an impossible task, however. They were around so many people, each with their eyes on the ring and watching intently, all of them in the right place and time to make any of the spells. There were so many wizards around that none of them recognised it was impossible to spot, especially while the spell was no longer in place. Gray had been the only one to have seen him, and even then he had only seen a small hint of a smile under a cloak, and was clearly in no position to tell them who they were looking for.

"We need some extra help…" Lucy said to herself, pulling out a key. "Open, Gate of the Lion! Loke!" she called out, a bright golden light appearing beside her.

Loke pushed up his glasses, looking at the crowd that he had been placed into. "Long time no see, Lucy."

"Loke!" she shouted out, unable to express how happy she was that he was actually there with her. "We need to find someone that's casting magic against the arena! Gray's counting on us!"

Loke nodded, looking back at the arena and the crowds around it. "This place is designed to be visible from all sides…" he commented. "We'll never find anyone like this."

"You're not exactly helping right now!" Lucy shouted at him.

Gray pulled himself to up, gritting his teeth. He had taken the last attack with no way of defending himself, and it had hurt him badly. He wasn't so weak that he couldn't get himself back to his feet that easily. There was still a huge reserve of magical energy left inside of him, it was only his resolve that had any danger of wavering now. He went to take another step forwards, his eyes going wide again as he realised that he could not move them. "What… What's happening…? I can't move my arms or legs…?" he asked.

"Loke, we need to act now!" Lucy shouted. "Whoever is behind this is casting now! How am I supposed to find one spell caster in all of this…?"

"I'm sorry, Lucy, but I'm not the one that you need." With that Loke once again vanished, causing Lucy to scream out in both anger and disappointment. Before the glow of his exit disappeared, however, the form changed, and a small girl with curling ram horns appeared in his place.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Lucy…." Aries whispered, holding herself in a small ball and barely having the courage to stand.

"Aries?! What are you doing here? Where did Loke go?!" Lucy cried out, once again finding that her celestial spirits were working without her.

Aries spoke softly, her hands shaking as she pushed them out in front of her. "Loke told me that you needed…. Wool Wall!"

From her fingertips, pink fluff sprouted forwards. It pulled up and formed into a tight wall across the side of the arena, seemingly sticking to the side of the magic circle.

"Airies! What are you doing?! We need to find people not hide them!" Lucy began, but stopped suddenly. People around her were whispering, but the whispers became louder and angrier complains. 'I can't see a thing!' 'what's going on?' 'whats the big idea?' A lightbulb went off in her mind. As Loke had seen, they couldn't search an entire area, but the spells could not be cast if the target could not be seen. "Alright Aries!" she shouted out, determined now. "Go for the North side of the stadium and block their view! Happy, watch to see if the spell wears off Gray!"

"Aye!" Happy replied cheerfully, flying high in the sky and looking down at the arena.


	19. Chapter 19

Ep 19

As pink fluff covered the arena and the fight disappeared from sight, the crowd's yelling began to grow louder. Some of them began to push forwards, angry fists pointed in Aries direction as she spread her power across the magic circle. Happy continued to spiral around the grounds, keeping an eye on the fighting but becoming distracted by the growing violence in the crowds.

Natsu kept his feet on the ground, running around and keeping his eyes ready for someone who looked more desperate than then rest, someone who had more riding on this battle and had to see it in order to continue casting his spells. What was getting under his skin, however, was that Gray had been right. He hadn't won the battle between them fairly. It only pushed him further, knowing that they had to come out of this together in order to have a rematch.

He had energy inside him now, his hand blazing in flames, but looking around wasn't easy. He couldn't even watch the fight anymore, and the blur of people was all becoming more. He'd never felt so weak, so helpless, so endlessly frustrated.

"You-you-you're with the Lady Erza…?"

A voice came from beside him, so small and weak that he hadn't seen him right beside him. He stopped however, looking at the quivering man in confusion. "Hm?"

The man looked at him carefully, now realising just who he was speaking to. "You're Natsu, right? Please…" he looked up at him, pleading. "Lady Erza said that she would help protect my family. I think I know where they are."

"Your family?" Natsu questioned, his full attention now on the man in front of him. "Hey, aren't you the mayor guy who signed us all up?!"

Kai nodded, looking down. "They came a few months ago. They said that they needed the cave systems around here for very important research. We didn't know what to do, and we were helpless, so we didn't want to say anything. But three weeks ago, I became aware that they were a part of a dark guild called Infinity Dream, and that they were planning something big. When I placed the job to Fairy Tail, they took my family from me." His eyes began to fill with heavy tears. "Erza promised that she would save them but now I know where they are! Please take me to her so she can save them!"

Natsu stared at him, taking in his sad story. Somehow the pieces were falling together, but it would have taken someone far smarter and less distracted than him to work out how.

The arena was completed covered, but they knew it wouldn't be for long. Though most of the Fairy Tale guild members knew to trust Lucy and her Celestial spirits, most of the other wizards were already attempting to pull apart the smokescreen to look back at the fight. "Happy!" Erza called up at him, asking for any more information.

Happy looked back into the arena, confused and dismayed. "Gray's still frozen!" he told them.

"I don't understand…. That should have worked…." Lucy whispered, looking up at Happy and back to Aries. It would have taken some high level magic to go through the magic circle, but if it was targeting specifically it would have been more than impossible to do that without any sight. She looked up above the pink haze, blue skies around her with the odd dots of white, wondering how anything else could have gotten past that…. Unless. "The clock!" she shouted out, pointing to the clock tower. It alone loomed over the square, looking down into the ring high enough to have missed the smoke screens. She remembered suddenly how it had been wrong, running at its own time as a side-effect of whatever magic was coming from within.

Erza heard her shout and was quick to act, looking up at the clocktower and summoning her dancing swords around her. With a stretch of her wrist they all fired forwards, cracking straight into the giant round clockface. There was a cry out, and a darkly cloaked figure flew backwards from the debris, falling towards the ground below.

There were gasps and cries from the crowd. Many of those not used to magic were starting to run now, seeing that the displays of wizardry were not being kept securely on the clear white square. The clock tower sent many more into shock and despair, and none more as just as the entire tower was about to collapse, the pieces froze mid-air and came back into place, slotting back together without so much of a crack.

The falling figure grabbed onto the side of the building just before he was about to hit the ground, swinging up and clinging awkwardly to the stone walls. He stared over at them all, still far higher, but he could see the fierce S-Class woman staring him dead in the eye. The arena took his attention however, pushing his hand to the square and stopping Gray in his tracks just as he had finally broken into a running pace, in time for Eyan to regain his footing and take his own offensive spell against him.

Erza jumped up, her swords dancing around her once more as she pulled herself in front of her enemy's gaze. "Your fight is with me now," she warned him, throwing her full weight behind her swing.

She gasped, realising that she was hanging in the air. She looked around herself, trying to move her body around but everything was suddenly much more difficult, trying to arch her back and move her chest forwards. She gritted her teeth, staring into the eyes of her assailant angry but determined. "I'm sorry, we're not the bad guys."

"Speak for yourself!" Eyan laughed, looking up at his comrade and his battle.

Gray was behind him, swaying but quickly realising that this was his chance. His focus was draining, but his hope was filling back into him now. "He can only affect one person at once…" Gray whispered. "That suits me fine." He grinned, and with that he twisted his hands, "Ice make sword" he said, finally able to swipe down with full force and send Eyan flying across the arena.

Some of the crowd remaining began to cheer once more, the pink camouflage disappearing under the strain of magical energy opposing it. He could take no time to look around himself, knowing that he had to use these few remaining moments to equal the playing field before all of his strength wore to nothing.

Erza gritted her teeth. She couldn't work out what kind of magic that was being used against her, something felt strange in the way that she was held in its grasp. Everything felt uncomfortable, she could feel the gravity telling her to fall back down but her body somehow pushed it back. "I need to be faster…" she said to herself, and her body glowed as she swapped armour into her speediest armour.

The man on the tower seemed suddenly surprised and she felt herself falling back to the ground, even before she had changed. She fell onto her feet with the aid of her new cat-like reflexes, but took the time to stare back at him. Seeing his instant mistake, he turned his attention back at the arena, slowing down his primary target once more.

"I told you you're fighting me now!" Erza yelled back at him, jumping back up, and just as before her body was frozen, only now she had more movement. Her arms felt heavy, but the magic was now uneven across both legs, feeling stronger against her clothed knee. Her eyes opened wide, and she changed armour once more, twisting her body into a kick as she did so and sending her enemy back down to the floor.

"Erza what are you wearing?!" Lucy cried out, followed by gasps and pointing of the crowd.

Once she had stopped glowing, she stood before him. To answer Lucy's question, she was wearing very very little. There were no bands on her arms, her hair hung freely, no shoes and only a very basic black bikini. She did, however, keep a katana on her side, though she hung onto it carefully. "Gray. Strip." Erza called back to the arena.

Gray stopped, though not because of any magical ailments. "What?!"

Erza pointed her sword back to her enemy. "If I'm correct, his magic only affects clothing, not the actual person themselves. That's why your spell broke whenever I requipped my armour."

The enemy visibly shook, crawling backwards away from Erza and her blade. He looked even more in disbelief as he looked behind him. "How did he undress that quickly?! In the middle of a battle?!"

"I'm actually impressed he was dressed all this time…" Lucy muttered.

Erza flashed her sword and he panicked, pushing himself backwards. "Now, start talking," she demanded.

 **Fan-service! Haha!**

 **As requested from** **Kori no Koibito** **, I've taken another look at the length of the chapters. While I'm not currently writing this and have no intention to go back over (unless I decide later to rewrite it, which is becoming more tempting over time) I'm a little limited for what I can do. In a lot of cases like this I've merged two chapters into one to make it easier to navigate though.**

 **Happy reading, Fairy Tail Fans!**


	20. Chapter 20

Ep 20

Natsu looked around himself, still able to faintly hear the shouting and the fighting echoing through the grey walls around him. "Where are we…?" he asked, sniffing the stale air.

"Under t-t-the arena…" Kai told him, shivering with feat. Natsu was the only form of light in the dark caves, but it was more than enough to spread eerie shadows as far as the eye could see. "I think that's why Infinity Dream choose our town. There's a huge cave system that runs from the mountains right through to our town, even inside some houses!" he told him, looking around and waiting for something to jump out at them.

"Huh…" Natsu murmured, looking up as the ceiling shuddered. "So they're fighting? Right up there?" He paused, curiosity lifting his vision towards the stranger looking stalactites. In a symmetrical formation eight of the largest stalactites he had ever seen hung from the ceiling, each of them similar sized and shaped. Throwing a fire ball up into the sky to illuminate the ceiling, his eyes widened. Against the light of his flames the pillars which hung from the ceiling were a clear, blue-ish glass with the faces of eight people trapped inside, motionless and chained with their hands above their heads.

He took a staggered step back, looking up and counting off each of the people that he was seeing. Elfman, Freed, Cana, Lyon… The more he saw the more he was certain, these were the eight final contestants of the tournament, and therefore eight of the most powerful wizards in the world.

"You have no idea what you've wandered into…" a voice came back from the darkness.

Rya stood, determined to make his stand even in the terror of facing Erza. The odds were against him, and were getting worse as more and more eyes fell upon him. A blond was beside him too, now, staring at him with the same defiance he had. "You're very smart," he admitted to her, "My name is Rya, and this is the true power of the Arc of Time. And I come in for peace."

Erza gasped, and gripped her sword closer. "You speak of peace and you create a death-trap for my friends. You have a strange concept of peace!" she yelled, swiping her sword downwards to him.

"Restore." The ground rumbled, the rocks and earth shaking as suddenly the rocks, pebbles and dirt from all around rushed to each other, creating an instant wall that threw Erza back on her feet. "This place is full of history, long before these people arrived here" he explained, looking back at the intricately patterned walls. "Fifty years ago, this place was a thriving city, filled with people and most importantly – buildings!" he shouted again as more walls appeared, spiralling upwards and trapping Erza and Lucy next to each other. "But then… in this world, all good things end up destroyed eventually…" He said.

The girls squealed and cried out as the new building they were inside crashed around them with huge force. They were barely able to escape without being completely crushed, jumping out of the way just in time.

"We're making a world where good things don't need to be broken anymore," he said, determined as he held his hands tightly, his emotions flooding into his voice. "A world where no one ever has to die again!" he cried out.

Erza had dashed forwards while he was talking, slicing quickly while his defences were down. He fell quickly, crushed by the weight of her blow and barely on his feet after just one true strike. He had not been expecting that, not such a quick recovery. "Peace isn't started with harming others," she warned him, ready to catch him off-guard again.

Another attack from Gray landed squarely, pushing Eyan back as he tried to change his weaponry once more. He wasn't as fast as Erza, no one was, and Gray was going to take full advantage of that attack. Still, this was no easy fight, as he had been weakened severely in the first half and was in awe of the ferocious willpower and brute strength of the man in front of him.

"So, you think you're going to kill me, huh?" Eyan shouted out, spinning his giant sword around, which Gray only narrowly avoided. "You don't have it in you to kill, Guild-Scum!"

Gray jumped out of his way once more, pushing his hands against the floor and turning it into an icerink. "That doesn't mean that I'm willing to lose!"

The requipping wizard pushed his spear into the ground, using it as a leverage to stop himself from slipping away. "Let me make this easy for you, Ice Rat. I'm not going to give you a choice!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Everyone stopped, the ice on the floor shattered and they could only concentrate on steadying themselves. Even Levy had to hold her books tight to her chest, squealing as people ran past her to try and get away from the trembling air. The ground of the fighting square rattled the most, and with it giant holes began to appear in each corner, on the inner edge of the magic circle spell. A giant crystal pushed up through the hole, and another appeared, and another again until all four corners and all four sides had a tall wide crystal glimmering in the sun.

"Elfman!" Mira screamed out, seeing her brother trapped inside one of the crystals.

Finally, outside of the magic circle another great hole appeared in the ground, and a huge stone pillar appeared. This time instead of being trapped inside, the man was standing on top, laughing manically. "I didn't want to show you so quickly, but here it is…. The Chaos Lacrima!" he shouted out.

The crystals buzzed and hummed, each one of them with their own pitch and sound, the person trapped inside completely silent and still as they remained tied up. Gray looked around himself, eight faces, most of them of friends that he loved, trapped and pointed straight towards him. "The arena…. Is a lacrima?!" he said, looking down at the white stadium floor.

The master grinned, realising that his plans were almost complete and taking the one moment of glory that he could. "Behold the power of the Chaos Lacrima. Once completed, it will have the power to completely eliminate any limitations to any power. We will have the power to rule!" he laughed.

"Hey!" Natsu shouted up, Happy on his back and flying him through one of the cracks his earth magic had been created. "You don't get to walk away from me!" he shouted at him.

"Hm?" Master Haikit looked at the pink-haired dragon slayer. "You think that you can stop me now?" He grinned from ear to ear, "Don't you know? Defeating me won't change anything. The Chaos Lacrima will still be unleashed."

Natsu landed on the ground, his fists already burning brightly ready for a battle. "You've put my friends in danger. No one harms members of Fairy Tale and gets away with it!" He yelled as he began his attack.


	21. Chapter 21

Ep 21

Fighting broke out. Rya, the Arc of Time Wizard, quickly found himself against a ruthless Erza and several of her friends that had finally began to understand what was happening around them. Others, including Lucy, flocked to Natsu's side, beginning to wage war against the master Haikit. The more they fought the more the earth shuddered, both from Rya bringing back numerous buildings and walls to protect himself, and from Haikit's ruthless bombardments of earth attacks. Rya was the first to fall, slamming into the ground in front of Erza's blade, twitching as he fell completely helplessly.

Of course there was only one battle that truly mattered at that stage. Both Eyan and Gray were out of breath, staring each other down and waiting for the next blow. They knew in the condition they were both in, luck would play just as big a part as true strength.

"So…" Eyan panted. "Do you have a taste for blood yet, ha?"

Gray narrowed his eyes, refusing to answer. Inside he knew, he knew that he wanted to live whatever it would take. He had made that promise to himself, to Natsu, to his guild long ago. There was a rule for leaving the guild, that if you were ever to take yourself away that you had to live your life to the fullest. Why would being inside the guild be any different?

Eyan ran forwards, one last rush ahead that was overstepped. Gray's cold fist slammed into his abs, knocking him flat onto the ground with no more energy to get up. Gray too, fell to his knees, feeling his strength completely depleted.

Eyan stared up, still panting heavily and barely even able to keep his eyes open. "Why…. Don't you…. Finish it…?" he asked him, almost pleading with him. "c'mon…. don't back down now…" he taunted.

Gray stared back at him, and pulled out the last of his magical reserves. To the dismay of Eyan, however, it wasn't an attack. Eyan's hands grew colder, shards of thick ice pinning him to the ground. Even if he hadn't been so close to his end, he would have struggled to separate himself out of the bonds. "There is…. Always another way…." Gray panted.

Eyan tried to pull back on his hands, shouting out to the sky in anger. The wizards turned, from each guild, good and bad, towards the arena where Gray knelt, dizzy but victorious in a way that he could have never expected. Levy was still working on the spell to break the circle, only a few minutes to go, and his enemy was captured and not broken. All he had to do was stay conscious for the next few moments, and the Fairy Tale guild would be safe.

"Arc of time…. melt…"

Erza jumped at the words, realising that Rya had gained consciousness while they had been turned away, weakened but still with a dark resolve in his eyes. "No!" she gasped, realising the mistake may be fatal.

Eyan grinned suddenly, his right arm suddenly free. From his own deepest reserves, with nothing left to fight for, he pulled a blade from the ethereal world into his hands, lifting it up and striking it straight through Gray's chest.

 **Dude.**

 **DUDE...**

 **If I don't reply to reviews/messages about this chapter please understand there's only so much I can say while the story is still going. Please still feel free to send them, just don't get mad if I don't reply or at least not right away.**


	22. Chapter 22

Ep 22

For a moment, the earth stood still.

Gray froze, his eyes wide. Icy blood pooled at the side of his mouth, and Eyan gave him an exhausted yet triumphant smile. His arm began to lose all remaining strength, feeling the suddenly heavy weight against him, he pushed it back and let his enemy's body fall in a pile on the floor.

No one said a word. No one else could move a muscle.

The Magic Circle hadn't had to do a thing. The blade straight through the ice mage's chest had been enough to cut away all life. Though it was deadly silent, there were a thousand unspoken screams. The remaining audience covered their mouths in awe, trying to determine if this had been a part of the 'celebrations'. The Fairy Tail members shivered, their throats closed and eyes wide in disbelief as they watched the pool of blood spreading across the arena grounds. Gray's mouth hung open, it had all been too fast to let out his final scream.

Only one unexpected person said a word, anger trembling through his voice. "Eyan…" the master pulled himself onto his arms, looking up as his entire body trembled. His teeth gritted, his determination in his eyes but a raw anger burning inside of him. "Eyan, you idiot!" He received a confused look, not just from his comrade but from the shocked guild members around him. "You killed the wrong damn one!" he said, gesturing to the Dragon Slayer that was standing right beside him.

"Hm?" Eyan looked at him. The Magic Circle was shifting now, the pink and purple letters appearing all over the air and he struggled to look at them back at his master. "He was getting in my way. What does it matter anyway?!" he demanded. Below him, the ground was shifting again, but this time in a different way. The humming from the crystals was much louder than it had been before, growing louder and louder as the magic energy from them became stifling. A wind began to soar, twisting and turning around the caves and around the wizards. Lines on the floor began to illuminate, rushing from the centre with the two fighters straight to the first of the crystals.

What does it matter? The words were crushing to every Fairy Tail member who had just had to watch their friend die mercilessly in front of them.

"'What does it matter'?!" The master repeated in disbelief. He lifted himself suddenly, using everything he had to push his arm forwards and throw his magic in the direction of the centre. Just as the magic circle dropped, his rock formation rushed past the barriers and straight at the requipping wizard, throwing him clear of the Chaos Lacrima and straight into the arms of the angry Fairy Tail wizards.

The winds continued to pick up, energy buzzing and crackling through the air. The lines across continued to run brilliant golden light, joining each of the crystals to the centre lines. Trying to regain some stability, some of them attempted to rush forwards, declaring that they needed to stop the lacrima before it could fully begin. These wizards were only thrown back by the winds as the fifth and sixth corners were lit.

Natsu began to pant heavily, what was shock now rising into anger inside of his chest. He didn't know what was happening, he couldn't let himself take in the full extent, but instincts told him that there was a pain and that he had to fight his way out of it. The seventh line turned a golden light. Erza tried to run for it, getting herself trapped in the wild tunnel and flew back out.

The eighth line ran down towards the crystal, and froze half way down, joined from a separate line coming from the crystal, a shining icy white. Inside, Lyon opened his eyes.


	23. Chapter 23

Ep 23

The winds grew stronger and wilder, twisting into more chaos. The vortex that held the arena and the eight crystals seemed relentless, no one could even get close to it anymore and it was difficult to see through. The winds and lightening were great, but not as great as the ice that began to creep out from the edges.

"Wha-what's going on?!" Lucy cried out, stepping backwards. "Is it just me or has it suddenly gone cold?!"

There was a mild agreement around her, and then a definite one. The ice began to spread and crystalise, sparkling through the air. The wind whipped around tiny specks of the cold crystals which grew, what started out as something like snow turning quickly into a heavy hail.

"The Chaos Lacrima…. It's unstable!" Haikit cried out, not even knowing if anyone would hear him out but knowing that what he said was undeniable now. "The powers inside…. They're not balancing!"

They took several steps back, but the power was growing fast. An foot of ice was already around, and the hail was becoming deadly. The ice in the air were now sharp blades, slicing through the air and piercing skin easily. Erza held up her largest shield, trying to protect as many as she could from the weather. "Lyon and Gray both have Ice Make Magic," she said, squinting through the new apocalyptic storm, seeing Lyon's eyes open inside of his crystal prison. "We have to get one of them out of there!" she screamed.

"But how?!" Lucy shouted. "None of us can get inside to pull Gray out…" she had to shout against the roaring winds and crackling ice. Her eyes filled with tears even as she spoke, despite her best intentions and trying to seem as strong as possible.

"We have to try!" Erza shouted, going to jump forwards and finding herself once again stuck in one place. Before she could even begin to yell once more at the Time wizard, she stared down at her feet which were coated in a thick layer of ice. "None of us can move!"

"I can't even use my wings!" Happy cried out as his frozen wings sent him hurtling back down to the ground.

"We're all going to freeze!" Lucy squealed, already too cold then she could handle. "We have to do something!"

Lyon looked around, slowly starting to realise what was happening around him. From inside the glass shard it was hard to see and hear, but he could feel the huge amount of force coming from around him. There was a power growing inside of him, too, one that he had never felt before, but above all the strangest emotion that he felt was the cold. It had been years since he had felt this, and he almost hadn't recognised it at first. The more he focussed, the more he could see the air around him slashing against his new and old friends, ice rising to waist level of some of the closest fighters and almost entirely covering the other crystal shards, and a dark silent figure lying in middle of the arena. "Gray…?"

His despair as he looked around made him realise that this kind of magic was one that only he would have any chance to combat it. He tried to pull on his hands and saw that they were both above his head, unable to pull them apart by force alone. He remembered Ur and Gray's lessons, reminding him to use his magic two-handed, but now he could only be thankful that he had learnt both skills. "Ice Make… Eagle." A huge ice beast escaped from his fingers, rushing towards his crystal cage and shattering both the sides and his restraints.

He pulled himself back, as Erza shouted back at him. "Lyon! You have to leave the arena!"

He looked at her confused, and to the vortex wall. It looked impenetrable, he had seen several desperate guild members try in his hazy vision only to be thrown back. He also knew, however, that his being there was only making the magic stronger. He walked to the side of the windwall, ready to try to step outside when it sucked him into its twists, spitting him outside of the Chaos Lacrima.


	24. Chapter 24

Ep 24

The winds began to breakdown, the humming quieting but far from going away. Lyon was against the floor far away and being surrounded by friends, struggling to push himself up even with the advantages against the artic weather. Though the ice was melting, it wasn't doing it quickly, and the magical bonds which kept them trapped to the spot stayed as they stood. The vortex continued to twist and turn, crackling and humming, in and out. Just as it looked like it would calm it began to grow louder.

Erza gritted her teeth, paying no mind to tears that had been streaming down her face. She pulled up her hand and let magic take over, twisting the golden light and pulling down a sharp and heavy lance. With a scream she threw it forward with all her might, aiming straight for the closest of the crystal shard.

The lance hung in mid-air. She gasped, her emotions overfilling her logic and she turned back to the wizard who had caused so much trouble, a new weapon emerging just for him. Bloodlust filled her eyes, lifting her weapon in front of him and hoping she could reach without being able to move from the spot.

"Wait!" he cried out, "The Chaos Lacrima… is your only chance to bring him back…"

The fires around Natsu wavered and shivered, though they continued to grow, twisting and turning and melting the ice around his feet as no other flame could.

The master had a small smile on his face, looking back at him companion and having to compliment him for his compliment his quick-thinking. "Rya is right," he said. "The Chaos Lacrima can amplify any kind of magic and break all of its limitations, including the Arc of Time."

Natsu choked, looking back at Haikit. "You can… undo this?" he asked, his words barely heard over the crackling of his own flames.

Haikit pulled himself up as much as he could, staring at Natsu. He was the one he needed, the one who could change the tide of their battle, and change the course of both history and the future. "Once the Chaos Lacrima is complete, we will be able to turn all of time back and forward as we please. Sparing your friend's life will be easy…" he grinned.

Lucy shook and shivered, her face paling by the moment. "That much power….!" She whispered. "It-it's not possible…!"

"It will mean the end of war…" Rya told them, looking up at Erza and trying desperately for her to see the sincerity in his voice. "The end of conflict and pain. Lands can be won or lost without bloodshed, mistakes will be re-written to have never happened. No one needs to die for no reason," he told him, a sorrow in his voice that trembled with a deep and personal longing. "This will be peace."

Erza tried to step back, finding herself still pinned to the floor. "Peace without choice…!" she gasped. "No one should have that kind of power…!"

"How do we complete it?" Natsu asked.

They gasped, staring back at him in surprise. No one wanted to be the one to tell him it wasn't worth the price, no one wanted to believe it themselves. Gray had touched the hearts of many, and those that he had left a mark so bright that those that hadn't couldn't deny it now. Natsu's magical rage was strong enough to burn away even the ice from a lacrima of nine of the strongest wizards. He did not look to either Rya or Haikit as he spoke, he hadn't taken his eyes from the arena since his friend's heart had stopped beating. Now there was talk of restarting it, of making this all a terrible dream that they could wash their hands of. He wanted nothing more than to fight, for something to step in front of him and roar or cackle or manically laugh, for the justice that came from striking down an enemy and a sense that there could be victory. "Tell me how," he whispered darkly.

"Natsu….!" Lucy whispered, wanting to reach out through the flames to him.

Haikit kept his eyes on Natsu. If Natsu had done the same, he may have seen the victorious smile across his face. "You're the missing piece, Natsu. Step into the lacrima, and you can protect the world for eternity."

Natsu gripped his hands into tight fists. "And if I do that… you'll promise to bring Gray back?"

Haikit nodded. "You have my word."

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled out, wanting to say so much more but finding all of her arguments slipping away.

Natsu started to take steps forwards, looking into the swirling magic. Every step closer he took the magical hum seemed to grow louder and louder. "We are Fairy Tail Wizards," he said as he looked forwards. "We don't give up. We don't surrender. We fight, and we will fight every last step. What makes us great isn't our strength or our magic, but our friends. That's what being in Fairy Tail means, that's what being in a guild means. We don't just fight to win. We don't just fight for ourselves. We fight for all of us. We fight… to _live_."

As Natsu entered, the circle shifted. The annoying and incoherent humming suddenly changed, and though each of the crystals played its own tune now there was another sound, something that harmonised them all. The golden light crossed even into the empty pod which Lyon had escaped from and the entire floor burst into bright golden light. It was so bright that they all held their arms against the blinding light, so powerful the last of the ice stripped away.

Natsu fell to his knees in the centre, right in front of his friend. Tears were pooling in his eyes, and despite his words he had lost his energy to fight them. "Don't worry, Gray… We'll get you back…" he whispered.

Rya stepped forwards, past Erza who could only battle with her own instincts as she let him walk past. There was nothing more she wanted to do than slice through this man, to stop him in his tracks, but there was a hope that pulled her back. Hope, which had always been their greatest strength, had brought them all straight into this trap.

Haikit smirked. He grinned. And then he laughed. "You have no idea just what you've given us, do you?" he questioned, gripping the ground. "This is the paradise world we are creating. His death created our true weapon. Do you really think that we would let you stop the Chaos Lacrima being created?" he cackled, pulling himself up to his knees as he looked at Rya. "The future is the only way forwards, from this point on we have the Chaos Lacrima and there's no way we are risking anything to get rid of that!"

Rya's eyes went wide with the memories. He could hear someone calling out to him, hear the singing of a distant memory. A small girl was crying out for her 'daddy', the crying turning into screams. Just hearing her memory again, so close to the Chaos Lacrima amplifying his connection to all of time, made his eyes speckle with tears. "Haikit…" he whispered, knowing that his master had brought him this far with this intention from the beginning. Now, it was all clear. If he went back to save his daughter all of those years ago, who could have known what else would have happened along the way? How many other countless lives would be lost. Searching for her had brought him to study the Arc of Time, desperate to find a way to reverse all that had happened to him. Even as he had set up the sacrifice he had always believed that in their new world, no one would stay dead. It was now clear to him just how foolish that idea was; the future was all that remained.

"This is the future, you fools!" Haikit laughed, the magical energy blasting across the air, sparkling through. "There is no place for weakness, no room for mistakes! You can pay for standing against us for an eternity of suffering!"

Rya looked back into the arena, hand outstretched to touch his magic against the Chaos Lacrima. His eyes fell on the Natsu, who was sinking down further as his tears overcame him. Rya could see himself in his eyes, see the tears that he had shed as he held his tiny daughter's body, remembered the pain that his love had caused him. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his hand into the ring, the world escaping into bright and brilliant light.


	25. Chapter 25

Ep 25

Natsu could feel the bright light against his skin even before he opened his eyes. He covered his face with his arm, his eyes closing tighter before opening again. He looked up, realising that the light he was shielding himself from wasn't magical at all, but the sun against bright blue sky. "Huh…?" he questioned, looking up. There was no smoke, no cold, no buzzing of magical energy. Just the clear blue sky.

"He's waking up…" Lucy said quietly, looking over him.

Natsu sprang up to his feet, looking around himself. They were out in the open, on a path in what looked like the outskirts of the forests. The familiar mountain was near to him, and the gushing of a river could be heard in the distance. "Huh?! What happened? Where am I?" he asked out loud.

"You just passed out…" Lucy told him, looking at him still concerned and waiting for him to fall over again.

"Was it something about the lacrima?" Erza questioned too.

The Lacrima. He thought back, trying to scrape together the last of his memories now. He remembered the warmth of magic washing over him, feeling a pulsing energy through his veins. He remembered looking up at Rya, barely able to see him through foggy eyes. "The lacrima…" he repeated slowly.

"Uh…. You haven't forgotten what you've come all this way for already, have you?" Lucy asked him.

"Maybe he hit his head when he passed out…" Happy suggested.

"This is an S-Class mission, Natsu, we need you to stay focussed," Erza reminded him sharply.

"S-Class mission…?" Natsu repeated. Why would they be reminding him of something like that in a time like this? His memories seemed mixed, his thoughts fleeting around and he was beginning to think he had hit his head.

Finally, his eyes glanced forwards. He could feel his heart stopping in his chest, his breathing slowing down. His mouth hung open, fists clenched and unable to say a word as he looked up at Gray staring back at him. His arms were crossed across his chest, his shirt tied around his waist instead of on his back, and behind him the town stood, quiet and calm as the day they'd arrived.


	26. Chapter 26

Ep 26

"Natsu sure is acting funny…" Happy chirped as he flew above their heads.

"As long as he starts acting more like himself again soon. We can't be losing focus at a time like this," Erza said as she dragged a dazed and confused Natsu behind him. He didn't seem to have the willpower to stop her, not certain which way he would go if he was even able to move of his own free will.

"I don't know, I kind of like him being quiet for once," Gray commented as they walked further on. "Hm? What's this?" he said as he walked closer to a post at the entrance of the town.

They gathered around it, staring at the black and white flyer pronouncing a wizard tournament pinned to the board. "A wizarding tournament?" Gray questioned.

"At a time like this?" Erza frowned, knowing that this could only slow them down and cause even more distractions ahead. An S-Class mission was labelled because they were ruthlessly dangerous, she knew that they would need all the strength they could to get ahead of themselves.

Natsu jumped up out of Erza's grasp. "Wizard tournament?!" he jumped back at the board, staring at the crisp new white paper he had recognised from several days before.

"I should have known something like that would put Natsu to his old self…" Lucy sighed.

"Aye…" agreed Happy.

Natsu stared at the paper, trying to fit all of the pieces together. "I don't… understand…" he thought to himself, looking at the black writing etched away. It looked exactly like the one he had seen before, in exactly the same place as before, and yet the way that everyone acted it was as if they had no memory of it.

"Don't be getting any ideas, Natsu," Erza crossed her arms tightly across her armoured chest. "We don't have time for a tournament like this."

"But look at that reward….!" Lucy's eyes opened wide, staring back at the flyer. "Erza… do all of us need to go into this mission? What if Natsu or Gray was in the tournament instead?"

Natsu froze on the spot. Just as if they had never heard themselves before, they were saying the same things that he had already heard once before. "I don't…. want to fight…" Natsu admitted, his mind flashing to all of his friends in crystal, the pain and the screams, watching Gray sink down into the ground.

Everyone looked at Natsu as if he had sprouted two heads. It was an impossible thing to hear him say that he didn't want to fight, but especially when it was something like a wizarding tournament. "Did he just…. Say that…?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

Gray grinned, trying to make light of the situation. "That's fine with me, Natsu, I'll fight in your place."

Natsu jumped up, realising to his horror exactly what that meant. He shouted out "I'm not going to let you fight in there!"

"Oh yeah?! You think you can do better?!" Gray challenged him, the air turning icy cold in front of him.

"You're not listening to me at all!" Natsu shouted out as he stomped his feet.

"Then how about a tournament of our own," Gray grinned, putting himself back into a fighting stance. "Winner goes into the tournament."

Natsu's eyes went wide, finally beginning to realise what was happening. He was repeating himself, the world had been thrown backwards and was determined to stay on the course it had been before. If he let Gray go through to the tournament, he would have been in the right place at the right time to meet his end. He remembered as the bright light had taken over him the pull, as if all of his body was being ripped against a terrible force. He thought it would shatter him into pieces, still not certain how he had survived, but now he knew that Time a foe stronger than he could have imagined. If he won, then the next few events could happen exactly as they had done before. He gripped his fists hard, knowing that he this chance now. If he could beat time and fate, he would have to play along for now. "I'm ready."


	27. Chapter 27

Ep 27

"I… won?" Friends from Fairy Tail cheered in disbelief as Gray tumbled down to the ground. Happy's voice cheered over them all, announcing that through it all Natsu had been the winner. Natsu looked at his own hands, unable to believe that he had beaten him. His mind ran quicker than he could keep up, trying to process what was happening and what would come from it.

Erza breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, at least it's a relief that he can still hold his own if there's a fight…" she said. "He seems far much more like himself."

"Wait! That's not how this is supposed to go! I want a rematch!" Natsu shouted out as he was being lifted by his friends in cheers.

"But Natsu you won…." Happy reminded him, confused.

"I spoke too soon…." Erza despaired.

Natsu's head filled with confusion. Was he supposed to have beaten Gray? If he beat him, then he was following the same path that would lead to his death. If he didn't then he was leading Gray straight into the jaws of the lion himself. That was assuming that he had been thrown back in time, but everything seemed to fall too easily in place for it to be anything else. He could see his friends arriving from the guild, hearing them explain to Gray, Happy, Lucy and Erza how they had come for the tournament just hours after they had left for their mysterious S-Class mission. Everyone looked so happy, excited and full of life… He wasn't sure how he could even begin to tell them or find a way for them to understand.

He was placed down and handed drinks and food, starting to enjoy himself finally in the company of those he cared for and laughing and joking with them. He even started to take pride in his victory, as false as it had been, it had been funny to see the humiliation and gain admiration from the other guild members. Try as he might, however, he couldn't seem to remember exactly how the battle had gone. There was talk of moves that he hadn't even remembered, ones that he knew would have stung more than the injuries he'd had. He guessed that everyone just had wild imaginations, realising that it was all too easy to melt big battles together in one's mind.

He put down his drink, looking around himself and seeing Gray disappearing into the night. He remembered then how early Gray had disappeared that night, lifting himself up from his seat. He had to do something, he realised as he held his fist tight. Even if it wasn't to say the truth, even if it was just for the chance to have one last conversation, he stepped outside after him.

"Gray," he called to him as they escaped the night air.

"I don't want to hear any more of your gloating, Natsu," Gray told him, putting his hands in his pockets and looking back at him. "You beat me. Is that what you want to hear me say?"

Natsu stared at him, feeling as frozen and helpless as he had the moment he'd seen the knife plough into Gray's heart. There seemed like there should have been a thousand things to say, a thousand more that came to mind as poor choices, and his words stopped. "I…" he stumbled, his trail of thought leaving him.

Gray turned and began to walk away. "Good luck tomorrow, Natsu. Don't lose."

The cold air was the only thing that felt consistent right now. Natsu walked without fear, knowing that there were worse things that would come to him shortly, trying to clear his head and do one of those painful things that he hated to do; think.

He had barely noticed the other figure coming his way, thinking it must have been another wizard that he paid no mind to, until he caught a sense of his smell. Even in the crowds, even in the confusion and the fighting, he'd still been able to recognise the strange smell of his power. Lifting his head his eyes were met with another's, who had stopped in front of him.

"Hey, I know you!" he called out. "You're that Time Wizard, Rika?"

Rya nodded slowly, making no movements at all in an effort to remain as little of a threat as possible. "My name is Rya Flighter and I am a part of the Infinity Dream dark guild, a wizard of the Arc of Time."

Natsu stomped his feet, loud and uncaring who around him could possibly hear. "You're the one that brought me back to here, aren't you?!" he demanded of him. "What's the big idea, huh? Why'd you send me back two days?!"

Rya looked down, his eyes filled with an age which his youthful face defied. "I had hoped that you would be able to save your friend…" he whispered. "Now I realise I'm mistaken."

Natsu gritted his teeth, his hands turning into fists though he knew there was no one that he could strike them towards. "What do you mean you're mistaken?!"

Rya's eyes looked back up at Natsu's, being sure to stare into them so he could see no hint of a lie. "To you, this is only the second time. In truth, this is the anniversary of your hundredth time you've walked this path, Natsu. In those hundred times, I've come to understand that time is not something we can manipulate and use to pull to our own will. It is a strong river, and we are pebbles. Even with my magic and the Chaos Lacrima combined, the most we can hope to achieve is a few small ripples…" he explained gently.

Natsu held onto his head, the analogy failing to make any sense to him. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means in two days' time your friend will enter the fighting ring and he will die, as he has done a hundred times before now. The methods are different, the situations change, but there is no way to change what has happened," he said, taking some of his own pain with those words. "I wish it wasn't true. I had worked with Infinity Dream to create this machine to take me back… take me back to the day that my daughter had died. All that this has shown me is that the words may change, a few small changes will happen, but there is no stopping time…" he said, his hand over his face as he caught his tears.

Natsu stepped back, gripping his hand tightly. He could have wept with him, he could have gotten angry and sent his flaming fists towards the man. He imagined, if he was to be believed, in some alternative universes he already had. But instead he grinned, he held his fist tighter and took the challenge. "You underestimate Fairy Tail wizards," he told him. "We never give up. We'll find a way, somehow."

Rya nodded and turned away, needing to spend no more energy again. "In which case, Natsu…" he told him as he walked away, "I'll see you on the hundred and first time."

Natsu watched him leave, letting the words sink in as he told himself there wouldn't be another.

There were footsteps beside him, surprising him with just how close they were without him even realising. Lucy stood directly behind him, her heart racing and her eyes wide, terror paling her face. "N… Natsu…?" she whispered to him, "Who's going to die…?"


	28. Chapter 28

Ep 28

"That's horrible…" Lucy said, wrapping her arms around her legs as she sat on the soft grass of the riverside.

Natsu nodded, realising then just how awful it must have been for Lucy to hear what he was saying. It was never supposed to be pleasant, but he was so used to describing battle scenes of victory and triumphing over hardship he wasn't quite sure how to talk about it. "I mean, I guess it isn't all bad," he said, scratching the back of his head. "At least I've got a second shot of it now."

Lucy nodded, trying to brave a smile. "That's true. So what's your plan?"

"Uh…. Plan?"

"You mean you don't even have a plan?!" Lucy screamed at him.

"I've only just worked out what's going on!" he shouted back at her defensively.

She sighed again, having to admit that as much as she disliked it he had a point. He had just fallen into this mess with very little explanation how he had even gotten there in the first place, and even at the best of times Natsu wasn't remarkable at making plans. There was a sadness in his eyes she saw, however, some of his brilliant hope cracking into pieces as he desperately tried to pull it all together. "Hey Natsu… why don't you tell Gray…?"

"Are you crazy?" Natsu looked back at her. "Why would I tell him that? I already told you, it isn't going to happen, there's nothing to worry about. I'll figure something out."

Lucy blushed, looking away. "I don't mean about the tournament, Natsu…" she said under her breath. "I mean about how you feel about him."

"Huh?!" he jumped back, instantly defensive. "What are you meaning by that?!"

Her blush deepened as she looked down, pulling herself into a tighter ball. "You and Gray fight all the time, but it's clear to see the two of you mean very much to each other. I just know that if someone that big a part of my life left without having said anything… I wouldn't know how to carry on…"

Natsu frowned, stubbornly looking forwards. "That's never going to happen," he said, determined. "I'm going to stop this, Lucy. If it takes a hundred or a thousand or a million times. We don't leave people behind."

Lucy looked down, realising that it was an excuse. For someone who ran around telling everyone how much his friends and fellow guild members meant to him, who would put his life on the line for the people that he cared for, he certainly had difficulty speaking up to Gray's defence. Lucy couldn't work out why it was so difficult for him, the two of them had been by each other's side for years and she could barely think of a mission they had taken without Gray by their side. Throughout this, she struggled to think of when they could even pay each other the smallest of compliments. They both had serious issues, she decided, watching out as the sun began to slowly rise again.


	29. Chapter 29

Ep 29

The fight against Gajeel was harder this time, but Natsu had been determined all the more. He had noticed Gajeel was giving his all this time, pushing against every one of his punches, determined that he would be the best. Natsu had more to fight for, however, knowing that this tournament would be more than just his pride at stake. He couldn't afford for things to go much differently than they already had done, he realised as he fought. Only with things progressing exactly as he had expected did he have any kind of advantages at all.

The remainder of his team seemed weary too as they stepped into the camp, explaining that they had had no luck hearing anything about a lacrima. He denied all knowledge of it, and Lucy followed suite.

Late that night, Natsu glanced over as he saw Gray leaving the camp for a second night running, knowing that he probably hadn't been helping to make him feel any better. He considered what Lucy had told him, if only for a second, before shaking off the feeling and blaming it on the booze-filled air. He pulled back his memory, trying to remember where Gray had said he was going.

"Alright you two." Lucy and Natsu jumped up, Erza's 'super-scary' mode activated as she stared down at them both. "You're both hiding something. Tell me."

Lucy pointed her fingers together, looking awkward and trying to avoid the terrifying look in Erza's expression. Natsu, too, looked terrified of her but awkwardly scratched the back of his head escaping the interrogation for as long as they could.

In the darkness of the night, Gray walked alone, trying to avoid speaking to anyone else, sinking into his own defeat by Natsu and going over in his mind just how strangely he had been acting towards him. Hearing footsteps beside him, he pulled himself into the alleyway, not wanting to get into an awkward conversation to have to leave again. As he did so, however, he could hear a cackling laugh from around him.

The ground shook and shivered, and before he knew what was happening the ground below him opened and he fell straight down into the caves below.

Haikit welcomed him with a grin. "There's been a change of plans."

"I can't believe you idiots wouldn't tell me something like this!" Erza's fist hit against the table, staring back at Lucy and Natsu as they both avoided her piercing stare. Even Happy's eyes were welling up, looking at Natsu in disbelief that his dearest friend would keep such a huge secret from him.

"We kind of thought that you wouldn't believe us…" Lucy told her awkwardly.

"Inexcusable!" Erza said, both her hands against the table now. "Even if I hadn't have believed you, I wouldn't have taken this lightly. It always pays to be cautious," she told them both, determined.

"So that means you do believe me?" Natsu asked questioningly, surprised that anyone would have been able to follow his story. Even he doubted his own memories were true.

"I wouldn't have," she admitted, thinking back to the journey here. "But I've seen the way you've acted in the past day, Natsu, and I've seen the way you've looked at Gray. I don't know if I believe in time travel, but I believe that you think something will happen to him. And we have to work together to stop it," she told him.

"It does sound pretty crazy…" Happy had to admit.

They worked through the night, ignoring sleep though they all knew that it would have been impossible to keep right now. Erza also yelled at Natsu for lacking a plan, taking it on herself to plan the formations and skills of each place. She poured information out of Natsu's head, anything that he could spare, and while he felt tired and sore by the end of it even he had to admit that he had placed so confidence in her battle plans. It wasn't every day that they could gather a fortuneteller than rivalled even Cana.

"So tell us what you think will happen next, Natsu, and we'll work from there," Erza told him.

He rubbed his eyes, looking at the daylight that was breaking across the town now. "Huh? Well any minute now Juvia is going to run in and-"

"AHHH!" Juvia ran inside, just as predicted, looking around herself in a state of blind panic. Just as predicted, Erza and the others thought, but Natsu looked different. She ran over to Natsu and his friends, knowing that they were the ones that she could count on. "Have you seen Gray?!"

Lucy shook her head. "Not since last night."

Juvia put her hands on her face, shaking her head. "Juvia is worried. He hasn't come back to the camp since last night." She said, in dismay. "Juvia was hoping that you had seen him…"

"Natsu, is this what you expected?" Erza asked him, and he shook his head becoming even more confused as Juvia suggested that he was where he had last been said to be going towards, the arena.


	30. Chapter 30

Ep 30

They ran, almost stumbling forwards into the magical circle in their haste as they made their way to the fighting arena and the birthplace of the Chaos Lacrima. _This isn't right at all…_ Natsu thought as he ran, trying to remember each of the pieces of Erza's plan. Though she had made it sound simple, it was actually pretty much exactly what they had done in the first time, just quicker. Thinking of it now, it hadn't exactly filled him with confidence.

"What are those things…?!" Lucy gasped as they stopped, staring straight ahead. "Elfman, Freed, Cana!" There were more faces, many more that she cognised and a few that she hadn't, all with their eyes closed and silent. She had faced these people before, some of them against, most of them as friends. She knew their sheer strength and power, and she trembled to see them frozen in crystal shards that jutted from the sky.

"The Chaos Lacrima!" Erza hissed, looking around and recognising the details from Natsu's description. Everyone that he had mentioned, even if he hadn't remembered all of their names, was here surrounding the square, except for one empty pod in the far corner. "They're missing one?"

"I'm glad you could finally make it," Haikit cackled loudly as he lifted up the tower of earth that he was standing on high into the sky, looking down on them all. "I thought I'd pull this all forward a bit. You see, time is not on my side." With that, he pulled up a second pillar beside him, looking similar to the crystal shards that were surrounding the ring, only this one had another face in it, eyes closed and silent.

Lucy gasped. "That's Rya…!"

Natsu's hands became balls of flames, looking at him with a deathglare. "You would do that… to your own comrade…?"

Haikit only grinned. "You should see what I've done to yours." Eyan was beside him, he too grinning from ear to ear as he dragged behind him a dark haired man. The master continued. "When Rya begged me to turn off the Chaos Lacrima I knew time had changed. I found out all about what happened, and how we won last time. So I've decided to make this more streamlined this time."

Eyan threw the man forwards. As he rolled, the bright pink and purple words across the air lit up and shivered, accepting him into their magic circle.

"Gray!" Natsu shouted, panic finding a way into his voice.

"Natsu, look!" Lucy held his arm and pointed, staring up at the pink and purple lettering. Most of it was uniformed, straight lines and neat handwriting that they could not understand. Overlapping this beautiful writing, however, were scribbles and crossing out, two words that they recognised; 'Natsu' and 'Gray'.

Gray pulled himself up, trying to stare at the wall and read it for himself as the master described it for them. "The rules of the game have been changed. Instead of the spell requiring two wizards to fight to the death, it now specifies Natsu and Gray," he paused, letting his brilliantly diabolical plan sink in. "If you don't step into the ring in eight minutes, all of these crystals will be destroyed and everyone inside them. First knockout is death, and is the only way of preventing this destruction, as I'm sure you already know, Natsu."

Sweeping across the edge of the square, each of the crystals were adorned with a brilliant blue magic emblem, twisting and spinning into a ticking clock with eight minutes.

Natsu gripped his hands tightly. This was worse. _Much worse_.

Erza changed swiftly into her 'Titania' armour, glaring at the man on the top of the pillar. "This is a dirty trick!" she called out, already bringing herself up to the details and remembering everything she had been told. "What's your plan? You can't use Rya to cast your time magic anymore. What are you going to do with the Chaos Lacrima?" she asked, jumping up and swinging her first blows at him.

He dodged out of the way, using the pillars to pick up his fall from his own. Erza's sword fell sliced straight through where he had been standing before, and he glared back at her. "The Chaos Lacrima isn't just for time magic. It can enhance any magical ability and break any limitations," he told her, bouncing out of the way of another attack. "It's a messier way of creating a new world, but with it I'll still be unstoppable."

Eyan grinned at who he assumed was his own opponent, and Lucy squealed. The man was easily seven times her size, with a sword that doubled that again. He lost no time in swinging it at her, too, and she screamed as she bounced out of the way opening her first celestial door. "Open! Gate of the Bull, Taurus!"

Natsu stared into the arena, knowing that his fate lay exactly where he hadn't wanted it to. His friends were fighting beside him now, but there were far less friends than before. Their odds were more stacked against him, even if there were less innocent lives that could have been hurt. "Lucy, Erza, we need you to free Rya," he told them both as he stepped inside, the magic circle closing behind him and blocking off his exit. "Happy, go to the camp and tell the others to come here. We need all the support we can get."

"Aye!" Happy announced, flying skyward and rushing through the air.

Gray looked around himself, staring at the numbers that were swiftly counting down. They had already wasted a minute, and there was only seven of them left to go before all of their friends were blown to pieces. Natsu walked forwards, flames erupting from his feet and rising inside of him, consuming him in a ball of fire. Gray lifted his hands, cold air circling around as he took a defensive stance.

"I have no intention of fighting you," Natsu told him, continuing to step forwards. His flames continued around him, but the heat was not from passion and willingness to battle. "You need to end this. You need to kill me, to save everyone else."

Gray's eyes opened wider, staring back at him. He saw tiredness in his eyes, saw a soul that had been tortured time and time again having to watch the same catastrophe unfold. He saw his willingness, and that above all else frightened him. "You don't get it that easy!" he shouted back at him as he stepped forwards, twisting his arms into icy blades. "You don't get to decide who lives and dies. Dying is easy, dying is quick. Killing is hard, _living_ is what is hard. You taught me that, remember?" he said, thinking back to the speeches that Natsu had given him, the way he had vowed he would never use Iced Shield, that there was always another way. "Besides. You owe me a rematch."

A small smile appeared on Natsu's face, his fists tightening. A rematch. He could manage that.


	31. Chapter 31

Ep 31

Erza flew past, wasting no time in flying around and slicing her way through anything that looked like the enemy. Haikit continued to throw earth boulders in her way but Erza had a dangerous look in her eyes and had no intention of holding back any of her brute force. She switched weapon after weapon, armour after armour, screaming as she sliced and hacked against anything she could see in pure frustration.

Lucy just screamed. Taurus had proven his worth but was quickly thrown back by the giant sword. She pushed herself back against the trees, trying desperately to find a key that would work.

She looked up, golden air forming around her as a form stopped the next attack with one swing. "You needed help, Lucy," Loke told her, gritting his teeth as he held back the sword from slicing back. "I'm using my own magic to be here, so feel free to summon another spirit."

Lucy's eyes glittered, staring up at Loke with new admiration. Determined, she nodded, pulling out her next key.

"Don't tell me you're going easy on me," Gray told him, almost beginning to enjoy himself as he jumped backwards, dodging out of the way of dragon breath.

Natsu, forgetting himself for a moment, grinned back at him, promising "I wouldn't dream of it."

Erza jumped up, becoming impatient and swinging more wildly than before. She had hardly realised that she had sliced too far when she heard a crack, realising that a blue crystal was cracking under her blade. She looked up, realising quickly that the Arc of Time wizard's casing was splitting under her sword, and as she yanked it free it fractured into a million pieces.

In her surprise, Haikit took it upon himself to sneak behind her, lifting his hands and creating a fusion of magic. A sudden clunk hit the back of his head, and he fell backwards, the beautiful Virgo behind him and kicking him down to the ground as Lucy cried out "Hey you're supposed to be protecting _me_!"

Shouting and bellowing erupted from the horizon, as a stampede of Fairy Tail guild members could be seen, rushing their way forwards with arms and magic. Happy was above them, soaring high with his fellow Exceeds beside him. "Look, there's Natsu!" he called out, moving faster as he saw his friends.

Natsu and Gray stood, one opposite the other, letting the dust settle as they squared against each other. As they had both known, as they had both expected, they were both exhausted, both almost depleted in magical energy, and both determined to stay on their feet. Gray glanced at the timers on the crystal prisons, and Natsu's eyes followed. 45 seconds remained.

"This is it," Natsu said, pulling his hands together as he pulled together a ball of fire.

Gray nodded, determination in his eyes. "Don't hold back," he instructed his partner, pulling his own hands together and freezing the air around him, absorbing all of the magical energy through his body.

"You too," Natsu told him, pushing forward his hands as ice and fire blasted together.

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 **This doesn't have very much left, and anyone who is reading Perfect Contrast at the moment should also note this is also coming to an end. I'm having a bit of a crisis here, no lie. Need to pull all of my ideas together and get ready for my next big project...**

 **Thanks for all the support to all the readers here, you guys are amazing (even if I've put you through hell and back haha #sorrynotsorry. I'm seriously considering rewriting this beast of a story but it depends if I can think of a new one to pull my attention. Well, Fairy Tail fans, enjoy while it lasts!**


	32. Chapter 32

Ep 32

 _One hundred times…._ Natsu punched his hand deep into the earth, his tears creating puddles into the ground. One hundred times Gray Fullbuster had stepped into the ring. One hundred times he had lost his life. One hundred times Natsu had cried.

The Chaos Lacrima was humming in its magical and twisted harmony, crackling, whispering pure magical energy into the air. The floor was glowing, the lines running between each of the crystals shining brightly and beautifully. Natsu punched his hands into the ground, shouting out in his fit of rage. His hands turned to flames as he hit the ground again, and again, and again.

Erza stepped closer, holding Rya under her arm and half-dragging him across the floor. She trembled, her eyes deceived her as tears began to appear. "Natsu, we can do this again…" she told him.

Lucy wobbled to her side, trying to pick her strength up. "We were so close…" she whispered, looking for the hope that Natsu always had within him. "We can do it next time, together."

Natsu pulled himself to his feet, feeling dripping rain pouring against his face. The sky was dark and clouded, the ground around him becoming muddy and slippery even as he simply tried to stand. Outside of the arena he could see members of his guild, not understanding what was happening but waiting for some kind of guidance. He too could see Juvia, giving him a look of a trapped animal waiting to take its prey.

He wobbled as he walked. He had no doubt that nothing had been held back, he thought to himself with a strange sense of pride. He'd got his last true match, he'd been victorious, and it was a painful victory. He stumbled forwards, coming closer to the windwall, and with one huge swing he launched his hand into the nearest crystal.

"Natsu….!" Lucy gasped.

"There will be no next time," Natsu told them, his voice heavy. "This is it. We take what we can." He had been able to take Gray's life with honour, he thought, though there seemed no point in glory now. He threw another punch against the crystal, shaking it as cracks appeared. He had managed to make sure no one had gotten hurt that didn't need to. He struck again, weaker than before but somehow with more power. He had saved his friends, his guild, even though he had all odds stacked against it. He hit the crystal again.

It was a dirty win, but it was a win.

The crystal broke open, a small gasp from the person inside. A small woman he didn't recognise with bright yellow hair that crackled, looking around herself panicked. He didn't look back at her, but he could hear the humming drifting away, the harmony breaking and light dimming.

There was a cheer from the guild, and suddenly they all rushed forwards. They had seen his aim, seen his weakness, and seen a target that they could throw their punches at. All at once they surrounded the lacrima, using all kinds of magic to tear apart the prisons. Everyone from Wendy to Gajeel threw themselves against the giant structure - though Wendy admittedly fell rather than threw herself. There were tears of joy as they pulled out their friends and family out of the prisons, hugs as the light grew dimmer as their hearts grew lighter.

The rain continued to pour down, hot and painful to bare skin. It hissed against the ground as it hit, covering the floor in a heavy mist. Even as the last of the sharps crumbled to the ground and the humming disappeared, the rain did not relent. The chatter was mixed, both extreme joy and pounding sadness. Natsu stood, the last living piece of the Chaos Lacrima, and walked out of the square. With his footsteps the hum disappeared to silence, only the pounding of the heavy rain against the ground able to be heard.


	33. Chapter 33

**I was gonna be cruel and wait to post this chapter later, but meh. I don't want to leave you guys hanging. Enjoy Fairy Tail Fans!**

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Ep 33

Natsu wobbled, weakness taking over him. He knew that it had been too much to assume that Gray would have beaten him without taking the very last of his strength. He could feel himself falling, no need to stay conscious for another moment. Strong arms held him up, and he didn't care who's.

"You look pretty beat up."

He thought it was a dream. He thought he was hearing things, smelling things, and as he looked up seeing things. His eyes went wide, unable to process. Just how hard had that bastard hit him?!

"Gray!" Lucy called out, the first to both see and believing it.

Erza's mouth could only open wide, staring in disbelief. Not only was Gray in front of them, he was standing and holding Natsu to his feet. He barely looked out of breath, using barely any of his strength to hold up his friend. "I don't… I don't understand…" Erza gasped, not sure whether to yell, cry or jump for joy.

Wendy peered from behind Gray, nervously waving.

"Wendy….?" Lucy whispered. "You did this? How is this possible?"

Wendy looked up at Gray and blushed. "I don't really understand it myself. When I was going to help get our friends out of the crystals I tripped and fell and rolled into the centre, next to Mr. Gray… I-I-I knew that my powers couldn't work but I couldn't not try…"

"The Chaos Lacrima…!" Erza realised, taking a step back. "Haikit said that it amplified anyone's powers beyond all limitations. It must have amplified your Sky Dragon Slayer healing abilities to even heal the dead…!"

Without warning, Natsu pounced forwards, his arms wrapped around Gray before he could even begin to push back. His eyes dashed with tears, now falling from happiness as he held his friend close in a way he'd never given him comfort before. "Don't you dare do that again, bastard…" he begged him, not even trying to wipe away the tears.

Gray's mouth hung open, completely caught off-guard at Natsu's arms around him. His cheeks flushed a sudden deep red, and nervously he let himself hug him back, soaking in the warmth and smell that only intensified with the damp air around them.

Before he could enjoy the moment, however, there was a sudden thud as Erza in her heavy armour pounced against them both, slamming them both down into the mud and wrapping her arms around them both. And then another, and another, and almost all of Fairy Tail climbing on top of them. Lucy stood on the side, Happy flying beside her, both staring as the guild turned into a pile of bodies. "Are they trying to crush him…?" she asked, mostly to herself.

The End

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 **Wow guys! Thanks for your support and reading all of this. All of your reviews and PMs mean SO SO SO much to me. I'm glad to be able to give you a happy ending too :) Happy endings are not usually my strong suit. In fact, endings in general are not usually my strong suit, and for those of you who read Perfect Contrast too you've got two in a day!**

 **Reading back on this, I think I'll be making a epilogue. I haven't decided yet, really, but we'll see. As I've mentioned previously, I'm also tempted to rewrite this whole story, but still deciding on that.**

 **But a massive thank you to you all! Please feel free to drop me any PMs or reviews and I promise I'll get back to them! 3**


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